Much to celebrate in 2013

This year has been a great one for me. I've found a way to eat that has resulted – finally – in a close-to-normal weight. My joints don't ache, I move freely and often, I'm not hungry or grumpy, I've dropped several clothing sizes (even shoes!) and I can wear costume jewelry again, after a metal allergy cleared up.

It hasn't been all sunshine and lollipops. Some things have been going on that I could never share here. I've used food to soothe my emotions a couple of times, but while that was formerly a go-to strategy and a coping mechanism I could count on, I'm more likely to walk it off now.

Or lose myself in a game (or 10) of Dots.

I look forward to my almost-daily walks. I feel as though something's missing when, for one reason or another, I have to skip a day.

I look forward to bacon-and-egg breakfasts, too. Who knew eating half your daily calories in fat could create such great weight-loss results? I'm totally sold on the primal way of eating. (The difference between paleo and primal is explained here, and after reading it I am much more in the primal category as far as my diet goes.)

While I'm puttering around in the kitchen today, I'm going to come up with at least a couple of goals for 2014. Calling them goals certainly works better for me than making resolutions. I can resolve until the cows come home, and I have over the years done just that. I can't quite put my finger on how the difference in nomenclature worked this year.

But it did, and since it did, I'm sticking with it.

My kitchen-puttering will consist of preparing a good-luck feast for my husband and me. We aren't big party people at any time, and especially not on New Year's Eve. We enjoy a quiet meal of ribs and kraut (my family's traditional end-of-year dinner), greens and carrot coins (for prosperity – who couldn't use more of that?) and Hoppin' John (the traditional southern dish for luck in the new year).

I want to thank both of you for sticking with me as I stepped WAY out of my comfort zone this year. I appreciate your comments so much. Blogging has been good for me for many years. I've made friends, learned so much, and gotten (and, hopefully, given) tons of support.

My husband thanks you, as well, since he doesn't have to listen to all my disjointed and sometimes crazy thoughts!

Have a safe and happy New Year's Eve. See you tomorrow.

Question du jour

First, thanks for all your comments and congratulatory notes, about the 5K and about yesterday's weigh-in. You keep me running! (You're welcome for that earworm.)

In yesterday's comments, Hils asked:

It sounds like you are one of the paleo people who also keeps track of calories--and I was wondering, how did you figure out what level to keep your calories at while eating paleo? Thanks! 

First, are there other paleo people who track calories? I'd love to be reading their blogs. Do let me know of any. Thanks!

I've been using LoseIt! to track my food since the spring of 2012. I haven't logged every bite, every day, but have been pretty consistent with it, and have been religious about it this year. Having the app on my phone really makes it easy to add items throughout the day.

Just ask my husband: He says the phone is attached to my body.

But I digress.

When you create your LoseIt! account, you set goals for both your weight and your rate of loss. If you'd like to end up weighing 140 and you want to lose two pounds a week, LoseIt! will calculate the number of calories you need to eat each day to make it happen, and will estimate when you can expect to see the magic number.

Sounds simple, doesn't it? What LoseIt! doesn't account for is the individual quirks inherent in each of our metabolisms. I ate at or below the recommended calorie level from January to March of this year and lost 7 pounds. At that time, my plan was to lose a pound a week. So I wasn't doing as well as the program predicted I would.

As noted in yesterday's numbers post (and Kitten, your comment cracked me UP!), I ended up GAINING 1.5 pounds in March. Enough was enough. At that point I was well and truly frustrated. I'd been faithfully counting calories and walking nearly three miles daily. AND I WAS GAINING WEIGHT!?!?!

Enter Whole30. I downloaded and read the free materials (I wasn't going to buy the book until I knew how I would tolerate the plan), went shopping and made the decision to continue following LoseIt!'s calorie recommendation.

Most primal/paleo folks don't count calories. Most primal/paleo folks have, um, more normal metabolisms than mine apparently is. Or maybe mine is normal under paleo conditions, but not while eating the Standard American Diet.

Whatever that is.

I thought I was eating healthfully last winter. I cooked from scratch, ate whole grains and healthy fats (but not too many!), used artificial sweeteners. My biggest treat was a McDonald's sugar-free French Vanilla iced coffee every once in a while – 120 calories for the large size.

I'm at a point where I would love to stop journaling my food, but I'm pretty compulsive about it, and plan to continue doing so at least until the end of this year. The calorie target right now is pretty low – 1149 per day. I honestly don't have any trouble staying below it, though, and am frequently well below it.

Here's the thing: Protein and fat are more filling than carbs. Doesn't matter what kind of carbs. Doesn't really matter what kind of protein and fat, either. My protein is largely animal-based, and my additional (other than what's in my bacon or chicken or ground beef) fats are mostly plant-based – olive and coconut oil, with an occasional pat of butter made from grass-fed cow's milk.

But who cares if one macronutrient is more filling than another if you graze all day?

And that's the biggest difference eating primally has made for me. I don't think about the next meal/snack/eating occasion as soon as I'm done with the last one. My bacon and eggs last all the way to dinner sometimes.

As both of you know, I'm now 62. Older people need fewer calories than you young whippersnappers do. 1149 might be way too low. But I'm satisfied, am rarely hungry (when I am, it seems to be at the appropriate time, i.e., when I wake up or if it's been several hours since my last meal) and I'm losing weight.

My big question is this, and if you have any experience with it – or if you know of a blogger who does – I'd love to have it answered:

Would I lose more if I ate more?

The BMR calculator over at Fat 2 Fit Radio suggests a moderately active 5'2" 62-year-old female with 40% body fat (I guessed at that number) who wants to lose 25 pounds should be eating 1925 calories per day.

Since we are all our own science experiments, the only way I'll know the answer is to do it.

But at this point, being in the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" camp, I'm pretty unwilling to try. 

So, Hils, aren't you sorry you asked? You got the War and Peace answer, when the Reader's Digest version would have sufficed: I'm following LoseIt's daily calorie target.

I'm really glad you asked, though. Obviously I need to keep thinking about the right answer. For me.