weight

 My weight is still bobbing around where i got a few months ago and I'm wondering if I'm dealing with a new "set point" and this is as good as it gets for now and I should just stabilize.  My big concern is yo-yo dieting - I don't want to get strict with eating in a way that is not sustainable and then when I go "off diet" the weight just piles back on.  I'm already living a life with enough privation - the cutback on sugar and ultraprocessed foods isn't easy.  If I were to then cut out other pleasures, such as dairy (cheese, yogurt, butter, half & half in coffee), I'm afraid I'd really start to rebel with the restrictions.  There is no fucking way in hell that I want to live a life without bread - and yes, I'll continue to make it all myself as I cannot seem to find a whole grain sourdough without any sugar.  (If I were gluten intolerant then I would give it up of course, but I'm the opposite of gluten intolerant - I love gluten, firmly in the pro-gluten camp here.  I've given up a lot of other things because of intolerances, such as figs and shellfish, which I can do when I need to.)  I can be more cognizant of using less oil, and continue to focus on vegetables, but I'm not seeing the easy path of weight loss ahead for now.  When I retire and have more time and bandwidth, I can focus on more exercise and more vegetables, but I'm at about as good as I'm going to get for now.  The one thing that I do think will help is a food diary, just for a few weeks.  All the measuring and recording will get on my nerves for sure so I am waiting for a less busy time.  

And I have lost 20% of my body weight, which is no sneezing matter.  I wanted to lose another 30 pounds but maybe that's for the future.  If I can hold here, and not gain weight, that will be good.   

maybe a better way for me to measure my health is to focus on jars.  This last dishwasher load had six jars, all of which I had processed.  Two were black beans, one was squash, two were tomatoes, and one was dehydrated pears (which I'd been eating from for months).  This is a healthy diet (though the squash was for the dog) and shows my food preservation efforts are fruitful and not wasted.  

Now I'm making lentil loaf, which I like to eat for breakfast on toast.  Cooking the lentils, sauteeing onion and garlic, using up the last of the walnuts I'd soaked and trying sunflower seeds for the rest.  Add a carrot, first time for that, and I like lentils and carrots together.  Once the bread is done the lentil loaf can bake, and while that's baking I'll prep the squash to roast.  It's a bit of a beast with thick skin, and I cut a couple of fingers last week.  I'll try to be more careful this time.  

I very very much would like a slicing machine for the bread that I bake.  A knife is a struggle and I keep mangling the loaves and slices.  There are manual ones that seem quite nice but the Swiss or German version is over $200 and the Chinese knock-offs on Amazon and Walmart are $60.  That is a difficult choice for me to make.  I remember when I lived in Germany, the kitchen had a roll-out drawer specifically with this slicing machine on it, and we used it not infrequently.  Also, nobody can ever tell me that there is any bread better than German bread.  It is the very best in the world, so far better than French bread. I will die on this hill.  I feel it as strongly as I do Oxford commas.  

Oh!  Saw a post for giving away a Dutch oven, and I responded, and I was chosen, and it's within biking distance to me so I will head over there shortly (after the squash is finished roasting) and carry it back in the milk crate that someone gave me for free.  He responded and messaged me when I was out dumping vegetable scraps in the large compost tumbler I'd gotten for free (which was fucking heavy and awkward to get in and out of the truck, but I did it).  I love free things!  

Squash is roasted and it's very tasty!  I love this variety so much.  So, off for the dutch oven and then I'll come back and cook up more lentils, to eat with the squash, with feta and pomegranate molasses dressing and pepitas.  one of my favorite meals.  And then for dinner I'll make potato leek soup.   And maybe some more prep for the week.  Put the tofu in the freezer and maybe chop up the broccoli so that's easy to prep.  Check the sweet potato situation and maybe prep those to cook for burritos, though I need to go back to the store for chipotles in adobo if I'm doing that.  I can cook them later this week unless the sweet potatoes are turning.  I love those burritos so much.  Oh, that's right, I have leftover tempeh chili that I should eat for dinner tonight and freeze the rest.  I'll make the potato leek soup tomorrow.  Or maybe I make it tonight and eat the tempeh chili tomorrow.  Decisions, decisions ... such good food.  

Still need to do cleaning and laundry, and it's already 3 pm.  Sigh.  Not enough hours in the weekend.  

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 Well, I got most things done today that I wanted to get done, yay.  I'm actually planning out the next level of chores (cleaning furniture I got for free, that sort of thing).