He’s a Portuguese Water Dog, our third! He’s actually white with brown light just kinda stinks!!
Here are our two other dogs. Doodlebug is the brown one and Dax is the black one
Kristy's Journal
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@Kristy oooh now the brown came through! Lovely! 
Daww theyre resting together. How cute. All males?
And all with names starting with letter D! good group. 
How much do they weigh fully grown?
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All males! They get to be 60+ lbs. Not sure why all the “D” names? Just a thing I guess?
@Kristy its cute that the names are all Ds, like a little army of fluffy love 
Ah! i just converted the measurement. My doggie weighed roughly 59 lbs last time I completed the task… holding him and weighing us both and then subtracting my number. He’s quite on the slim/small side for a golden I think (good for their hips to keep them that way) so roughly same size then! Cute breed! 
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Oh am I tired. Can’t seem to fast for longer than 20ish hours. Probably PMS. Trying to switch my eating time to early afternoon instead of late afternoon/early evening. I am constantly in awe that so many of you do very extended fasts! It’s not for me and that’s ok.
@Kyle I got the versa! I do not like that it has Alexa but I will not enable the feature. Call me paranoid but I do not like feeling of knowing there is something potentially recording… anything… I’m interested to see how many steps/whatever I’ll be getting with constantly playing with Data.
Ate tofu, brie, and sunflower sprouts for lunch. Hubby gets to come home early today!
Kinda did some walking meditation outside while walking with Data. We were walking through crunchy dry leaves and it was windy. I just let myself be with the earth, feet kissing the ground, and felt the wind blowing everything- then a puppy crashed into me and decided my shoes were worth chewing. Smiles.
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Lol, love that last bit… so peaceful and then crazy puppy! What a mindful moment the first bit, could feel it. It’s wonderful when you’re able to be in the moment so clearly.
What little buggers pups are but so much joy aswell. Furballs! < 
Well if you’re doing 20 ish it’s OMAD? I’m always thinking it’s a super good baseline. 
And yep, it’s all good.
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I’m w/you. on the Alexa feature. I don’t use Alexa, Echo, Siri… any of those listening devices. I have opaque tape covering my computer and phone cameras. I don’t trust “whoever” is watching/listening online… lol. Must be the Scorpio in me. I know we can’t totally. escape Big Brother, but I’ll try!
Hope you like the Versa!
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Woke up this morning with a very raspy voice and a slight cough. I know it’s just from speaking a lot more than I usually do (constantly cooing at a puppy) and spending so much time outside in the cool wind.
Did 2MAD yesterday. On hour 14 of my fast and I’m going to try for 18:6. 1.4mmol today
pups are resting.
“We cannot say, ‘I am separate and unique. I am not responsible. Instead, we must learn to say, ‘By taking good care of myself, I take care of you. And by taking good care of you, I take care of myself.” 
~ Thich Nhat Hanh.
“Love is the capacity to take care,
to protect, to nourish.
If you are not capable of generating
that kind of energy toward yourself
if you are not capable
of taking care of yourself,
of nourishing yourself,
of protecting yourself
it is very difficult
to take care of another person.
In the Buddhist teaching,
it’s clear that to love oneself
is the foundation
of the love of other people.
Love is a practice.
Love is truly a practice.”
~ Thích Nhất Hạnh ~
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Spending a lot of time outside and cooing at your puppy sounds like a good tradeoff for a raspy voice. Just think of yourself as Demi Moore or Kathleen Turner for today. 
hows the sleep schedule coming along? Any better?
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@Kyle Sleep is pretty good all things considered! One thing that is affecting the quality of sleep I get is that I am not in the same bed as my husband. We’ve never slept apart before. He’s in a guest bedroom with our other two dogs and I’m in our bed with Data. Doodlebug and Dax still need time to really accept Data before they’ll tolerate a puppy crawling all over them in the night.
My raspy voice sounds more like a toad than a leading lady hahahaha! But, like you said, it’s totally worth it. frogs are cool.
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Reminds me of the Ho’o pono pono teachings. Was quite invested in that a year or so ago. Core is that we’re all one, and that unpleasant things playing out in the 3D-reality is just “errors” - that it’s not us being our true kings and queens; and true Love, from Source. At heart it’s about forgiveness and unconditional Love, especially ourself - AND that “ourself” is the only thing that exists. Might be far off… just wanted to mention.
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Makes perfect sense to me! If we’re crazy we can enjoy the boat together!
Ended up doing a long loving kindness meditation while in bed last night. Data was sleeping but I was wide awake. I focused on all the people in my town and people I use to know but am no longer in contact with. Finished with some loving kindness towards some people that I do not know personally and do not like. I’m not sure the sincerity was there, though. Some days I can pour love and compassion into this practice other moments it is obvious I need to work on loving myself.
Serious PMDD. I feel myself bloating and am hungry all the time. My husband finally got an appointment to get his vasectomy! My copper IUD is coming out in late December and I’m trying not to grasp at expectations of relief, mostly unsuccessfully, but it’s a moment by moment thing! Had a 5 hour eating window yesterday. Ate lots and lots of veggies which brought me down to .8 mmol. Ummmm okra… However, I checked my blood ketones after only 12 hours of fasting. OMAD is difficult before my period. I think one of the barriers is that my one meal simply isn’t big enough to keep me going for another 23ish hours. I also know that since I am no longer able to stretch out eating a single meal over the period of an hour (puppy) that is a contributing factor.
The pups are napping right now. Voice is no longer raspy but I still have the slight cough. Taking my inhaler. I think my lungs are much weaker after my 8 week stint of bronchitis earlier this ear. My body simply will not heal itself. I didn’t take anything but OTC meds until I passed out and had to be taken to the hospital. Everyone thought it was Covid but thank the gods it wasn’t. They couldn’t test me before my hospital visit because my fever was never high enough and limited availability. It took 3 rounds of different antibiotics to get me somewhat better. I remember coughing so hard I would throw up. I also was very afraid because I wasn’t able to focus on tethering my consciousness to the breath. I can’t imagine how terrifying it must be to have covid! I’m not afraid of this body passing and continuation but that type of pain and suffering without contact with loved ones isn’t something I’m able to transform into joy at this moment.
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Broke my fast after 15 hours and ate green coconut curry until I was a bit uncomfortable. We’ll see if OMAD is a possibility
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Yesterday was the first day we had all three dogs in the bed with both me and my hubby. At first Doodlebug and Dax were like WTF this is our bed but they settled down eventually. I go to bed at around 8pm. Unfortunately I woke up at 11pm because I was ravenous with cellular hunger. I knew I wouldn’t be able to get back to bed until I ate something so I had some brie and tofu. Broke my fast after 12 hours. I was hoping that I would be able to sleep without eating and have breakfast this morning but this body had other plans.
Had time to get on the scale this morning and haven’t gained or lost any weight. Was able to weigh Data too! He’s 15 lbs! Since I’m PMS bloated I might actually be down a bit but I doubt it’s much. I wish I could still swim. Running and playing outside with the pups is still great exercise for emotional health but it is much harder on my back with all the impact. We do have an elliptical that I may use today since my husband is home and can watch the dogs. It’s not my favorite but I think it will be a good compromise for the moment.
Will just listen to my body today.
Sometimes I get uncomfortable with some of the posts on people’s threads. (This discomfort is my own issue that I need to figure out and is no way a reflection of anyone else). The concept that we have to defeat our brains/thoughts, overcome any discomfort just to look a certain way or reach a particular outcome as quickly as possible seems unhealthy both physically and mentally. I understand that this is the beginning of self inquiry into our habit energy but the rigidity is a brittle barrier that will not only break but continue our destructive feelings of shame, lack of self worth, and fear. I do understand that long term fasts are spectacular and can be harnessed as a process into looking deeply, cultivation of willpower and discipline. Not of mind over body but of self knowledge, realizing the present moment, and discovering the miracle of our bodies. There are several extremely strict Buddhist sects that practice extended sitting meditations (sometimes for days with no sleep in extreme weather) to the point of unnecessary pain from physical discomfort. A type of self flagellation. Can this type of dogmatism in any form bring joy and help us transform our suffering? I don’t have any answers and there is no “ultimate truth.”
I wonder if my unease is due to past feeling regarding my weight and how powerless I felt? Medications that saved my life made me gain obscene amounts of weight or during the early stages of my illness I couldn’t digest food at all and was dangerously thin. Is it misplaced shame that I cannot do extended fasts? Am I choosing to “fat shame” myself because I will/won’t/cannot lose weight quickly? These are all things I need to look into. I’m not sure of the root of this unease and this judgement. People have their own individual paths! Why am I trying to put people in boxes? Very interesting!
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Interesting and very introspective post with lots to think about. Thanks for putting this out!
I can’t comment more right now, mind is a little checked out due to sugar rushes. But thanks for being so clever and willing to dig deep.
Hah, Yeah I wonder what my doggo would think about an extra doggie-friend. Do they eat together?
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As an artisnal French pastry chef that had to make hundreds of chocolate croissants from scratch everyday I feel your pain. They were the only pastry I never got tired of. I could barely stand the sight of scones, cakes, etc but a simple croissant (insanely tedious to make from scratch but worth it) with espresso was always wonderful after a 12-16 hour shift.
I’m not certain what triggered these feelings? I love my body! It’s a miracle no matter its shape or size. I’m beautiful inside and out. It’s puzzling. I wonder if it has to do with my lack of dedicated exercise due to the puppy?
My doggo’s look like we physically abused them and totally betrayed them when we expected them to share a bed with Data! They’ll get over it and love him bunches- with time. All the dogs have their own bowl. The big dogs have their regular food and Data has his puppy food. We feed him in his play pen otherwise Doodlebug and Dax would gobble down Data’s food. And it would probably upset their tummies!
“If we can model the ability to embody non-fear and nonattachment, it is more precious than any money or material wealth. Fear spoils our lives and makes us miserable. We cling to objects and people like a drowning person clings to any object that floats by. By practicing non-attachment and sharing this wisdom with others, we give the gift of non-fear. Everything is impermanent. This moment passes. The object of our craving walks away, but we can know happiness is always possible.”
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
I think the judgement I was experiencing was rooted in my attachment to movement and fear of the inability to move (I can’t tell you how long I’ve spent immobile in hospital beds) and always needing to come to terms that I have much less “control” of my body than the average person. I was feeling jealous that some people can “do” certain things and have a reasonably predictable outcome. I have always used movement, sometimes until I incur injuries (I am attached to experiencing this body), as a way/meditation to be fully connected with my body. Since I can no longer swim (for awhile) I am missing the scheduled alone time to connect with my body. I’m not afraid of physical death and continuation but I am attached to the promise I made to my family and friends to keep this body functioning for as long as possible. Hence the jealousy which was ultimately anger projected onto other people for taking their bodies for granted. But all of that was the fear of unknown and unpredictability in this body
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I will actually embrace a little weight gain on my refeed.
My head is still not up to speed on the weight I’ve lost.
I think there’s a lot of clearing that needs to happen before the mind can be at full capacity for weight loss mode.
My body seems to have changed as well.
I used to have a fuller butt and it was the last place I’d lose.
Now the legs and butt are fine and it’s the waist giving me the hardest battle.
I may need to work on balancing the third chakra.
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