:: Free 2 Be :: the Odyssey ::

After an 11 hour trip which took 4.5 days, I arrived back in North Carolina only to fly out to Missouri 12 hours later. Stayed 5 days and got back Tuesday. I’ve also just celebrated 27 years in AA. WooHoo! =)

So - I’m back! And, I have a new home! My family’s 19 year old 31 foot RV. Yep, a real motor home is now my home. There is so much to learn!

So far we have: title, insurance, registration, towing and roadside assist package, 3 good tires (of 6), engine and other mechanical runs great, water system works for cold water in sinks, and, toilet works. Shower also, but no hot water yet, yes on microwave, fridge and heat. I’ve also cleaned about half of it. (It spent it’s last year living in a pole barn with vents open.)

 Still need LP gas for stove and hot water, water pump working for when not at a hose and generator tweaked.

Basically it is in very good condition with those few things to do plus more cleaning and a little body work. I’m thrilled. My family is thrilled. My friends are thrilled. People are BIG helping me with it - thank you, Jesus! GOD IS GOOD! Also, my pastor is letting me park for now at the church which is free with electric and water. Thank you!

Notice I didn’t mention weight loss. =>

My priorities are re-shifting with the new place and assignments and I’ll know more about what I’m doing later.

One quick food story. So I was at the mall today and realized I’d missed lunch. It occurred to me to stop by Chick-fil-a so that I wouldn’t end up *home* late and starved (important meeting tonight). Then, I remembered I had all the healthful fixins for a turkey sandwich etc right in the RV in the parking lot which was parked in a quiet place by a row of trees. I went out and had lunch.

How cool is that?  =)  =)

A term used much in the law is *due diligence.* This refers to exercising the level of care expected under the circumstances, so that people won’t get hurt, lose money or such.

I’m still stuck on the idea of following up on plans. I need to be *diligent* to *do* what I’ve planned. *Do* diligence. Get it? LOL

Maybe this should be my focus one week.

What’s your focus today?

I did wait a little late to start breakfast yesterday, which was eggs and broccoli. Today was earlier, but a *quickie* 2 egg sandwich, no veggies, but at least breakfast with protein within two hours of getting up.

This morning I forgot to finish my one large cup of coffee, a very good sign!

The rest of my day is still too much on things I would rather not eat, some because I’m going after treats and some because that’s what’s available. Water is doing good.

My biggest challenge is really focusing on these weekly focus items, and, not getting pulled off while continuing them as a lifestyle. My two biggies are last week and this week, drink water and breakfast with protein within two hours of getting up.

Will I follow up this time?

This means me.

How often have I made great plans and then not stuck too them?

Lord, help me diligently do my careful plans.

What plan did you do today?

Very happy to be focusing on *something* the right direction. =)

The main problem with eating breakfast so late was that turned into brunch or lunch and that pushed all my mealtimes back until I was eating pretty late at night. Now that breakfast is moving earlier, I can see there is hope to move that last food of the day earlier which should really help.

My one off-program drink so far is coffee. Tea without sugar counts as on program because my understanding is it is good for me. =)

What did you do today that was good for you?

My biggest breakthroughs in learning about what my body needs came with the knowledge that Breakfast with Protein is KEY. So I pretty much always do have protein with breakfast.

So what’s my challenge?

I’ve also learned that I must give the first part of my day to God or I never get that quality time again, which includes putting off shower, getting dressed, breakfast, etc. until I have done that. I’m in full time ministry so this time with God is non-negotiable.

This means I often don’t eat for the first time until 2-3 hours after I get up, sometimes later.

Then I tend to eat too much (all good stuff, but a huge meal). And then I tend to skip lunch because I ate so late. The problems this causes are too few meals a day and creating a strong desire for too large meals or snack foods I would not normally choose.

My focus this week will be on eating Breakfast with Protein within 2 hours of getting up. One hour is optimal, but I’ve learned to start slow, set the bar low at first, etc.

Yikes, I better go eat breakfast!

What did you have for breakfast today? How long after you got up?

My weigh-in was what it was.

The scale is difficult to read (not digital), old and not adjustable. MAYBE I’m still weighing in where I was last week, maybe I was reading it wrong the last two weeks.

I refuse to get frustrated. My temptation is to go drop $50 on a scale. Nope. My choice is to not let the numbers control me, especially when I can’t depend on them.

I’m just going to take this as a reminder that I need to focus on behaviors and not get ga-ga over numbers. So I’m choosing to call it what I did last week: 247, no gain or loss.

In any case, I’m off sweet tea and Mountain Dew, and, down to 1 (large) cup of coffee per day. The BIG news is that I am reaching for water over and over all day. YAY! That is the real victory.

Now I just need to re-focus and get my mind switched to what’s next. What is next? I haven’t decided.

Here are things I thought of working on:

• cutting out that last cup of coffee (important to me, not too hard)
• keeping up the water drinking and getting it up to 1 gallon a day (not too hard)
• completely cutting out the sodas, even grape (only one left, fairly easy)
• need to eat breakfasts earlier, which probably means I need to plan and cook ahead
• adding back high calcium dairy with meals
• adding back green tea 2-4 times per day (no sugar)
• watching my wheat (really bad for me) which is already down (just buy some Ezekiel bread and brown rice pasta)
• get back to making sure I don’t eat late night (sometimes hard, sometimes easy)

Okay what’s your suggestion? You guys nailed focusing in on the water last time so I’m very interested in your opinion this time (although I may pick something else or pick before you respond)! lol.

Thanks for playing! =)

Tuesday was good, I was really wanting water. Number of glasses is a guess, I just kept reaching for it and wanted hardly any grape soda. I consider this focus finished for now and will work to stay on the water and keep increasing it. YEA!!!

Monday was day four of no dew or sweet tea. And, I’m still clean of those addictive-to-me drinks.

It is not just the calories, or even the caffeine (which I’m over sensitive to). These are gateway drugs to me. Once I’m having those, I find myself willing to say yes to other (harder?) foods. And, once I get them out of my system I don’t miss them, or crave other things. PLUS, that is a boatload fewer of empty calories and triggering every day.

Day four is the dread *hump day* on getting free of addictions. I MADE IT!!

I did have some grape soda the last two days but that won’t trigger me once it is gone. I also had some ice cream and pastries bought for a celebration - but - I’m refusing to focus on food while I do this.

My original goal was to just focus on increasing water; the dew and tea just fell away once I did that. This is WAY beyond anything I would have thought to try for. That’s the “building habits works - bad things just fall away” thing.

Tomorrow is weigh-in. I think I will pick a new focus and just stick to one focus at a time for a while, working on building good habits. I had actually been working on water for a couple weeks but just started charting Friday and look what happened!!

What has changed for you lately?

What I did yesterday was pick up some grape soda - which is okay because it satisfies the craving without generating more craving.

If I can hang in there today and tomorrow, on drinking water, on the tea and dew, I’ll consider this water watching a GREAT success. But then weigh-in is Wednesday…

I’m really resisting the urge to start going crazy on watching the eating, too.

Focus. Focus. FOCUS.

What’s pulling you into getting pulled off your focus?

What’s happening is my body is starting to want water.

10 days ago, it definitely did NOT want water, it wanted the others.

This is happening much more quickly than I had hoped so I am working to stay with it. If I can get through today, without craving tea or dew, tomorrow is day 4, well documented as the hardest day.

Also, I’m not craving coffee as soon as I wake, and today waited a couple hours before having it.

This is GOOD. This is soooooo good. I won’t consider it a set back if I take a step back before completing this process of getting free (yet again) of the drinks that aren’t good for me and back *on* the water which is good for me.

I’m also getting very interested in how this might affect my weigh-in Wednesday.

What are you focusing on this weekend?

I’m thinking of including lemon juice in water just in the regular water count to avoid adding a column.