Checking in. No walk. Food so so but credit for passing a Mexican restaurant (sigh) and going straight home to tuna salad. (No snowshoes BBE. We tried that once & kept stepping & tripping on each other's shoes. Kinda like when we try to dance, only with the added complication of falling in snowbanks.)
Curlypudge, sorry to hear about your MIL. Hope your husband is okay. nationalparker - never thought about generic dough, just cooked into different shapes at the supermarkert but you are right! Luckily it's one of the things we stopped eating ages ago & haven't missed . . . though the aroma drives me crazy. BBE - yes an evening stroll among the lights is lovely. Lexxis - impressed with your mindful eating. It's hard to stop at one piece of pie! karen - shortbread cookies? What lucky co-workers you have!!
Diet Coaches/Buddies – Ordered a sane lunch, CREDIT moi, when out with friends. Turned down FREE French fries and fried onion rings. I came close to ordering a thick hamburger with cheese and bacon since I never get that. Then remembered that I didn't need the calories or the red meat. I can still taste it in my mind the next day. Powerful stuff food is.
Walked, CREDIT moi, including buying a book for DD for Christmas. There were stacks of small books at the register for impulse purchase. All were tempting until I looked inside one titled something like "Everything about Science." I glanced through it and got annoyed that a small book, in fact, didn't cover everything about science. You'd have thought that I might have guessed that in advance.
Debbie (Lexxiss) – Love the perspective, "but I remain determined not to let that affect the rest of the week." Neat that you can also keep some perspective with the family emotions.
silverbirch – Hope all is well and that your old computer project moves along.
nationalparker – Kudos for 11 straight days on MFP. I share your disdain for one dough baked in different shapes as if that made it Italian, French, Sour dough, etc. LOL that you skipped IHOP for Italian bread in the trunk - seems like carbs were calling.
Karen (karenrn) - Do you recommend reading Wild before seeing the movie? Both are on my list. Ouch for the call of the leftover cookie bits. Have a fun 8 mile hike today.
curlypudge - Sending supportive thoughts as you experience the loss of your mother-in-law.
Mountain Mamma - Yay for tuna instead of a Mexican restaurant. LOL at tripping over snowshoes - I haven't used them for years so don't know if I still can.
Readers -
Quote:
day 29Resist Food Pushers
How to Say No
Visualize your plan in action. Who will most likely push food in you in the near future? Where will you be? Who else will be around? What foods will be involved? Try to imagine the scene. See him or her offering you the food. Hear yourself saying, "No, thank you." Think about what this person might say next and how you might responds. See the person turn away and offer the food to someone else. Visualize giving yourself lots of credit and feeling proud of yourself for being politely assertive about your needs.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), pg 210.
Last edited by BillBlueEyes; 12-20-2014 at 06:26 AM.
Reason: Typo
Will do another earlier check in today. I worked hard to stay on plan yesterday, until I was on the phone with a friend who lived in town and worked at my company, and we catch up for 3 hours or so every 4 months, give or take. So DH got busy with this and that, while I settled into the kitchen to start my baking. I am NOT in the baking mood and typically I make small mistakes that will affect taste, etc. Started with an easy one - muffins that were in very pretty olde world santa muffin cups - wanted to take them to my neighbor who is leaving today to drive to her family ... (we'll swap baked goods now and then) ... so not sure what happened but they turned out like a child's science experiment, overflowed like volcanoes, took an extra 15 minutes to bake, just a mess. But then... I tried the stuck on gunk on the side of a muffin cup. Well, now, that was just delish. Hard, crusty, but sweet and cinnamon-y. Another one, and then finally just had a muffin. I figure going over by 550 calories was the damage. While MFP has been saying in five weeks, with days like today, I'll weigh 159 pounds, yesterday it said with days like today, I'll weigh 165 pounds. YIKES.
Unfortunately, lunch was a heavier one than I needed, so tonight will definitely take home 2/3 of my meal and have one more extra-calorie day and aim for two much lighter days this weekend or else build in time for activity. Dinner plans tonight are with a friend to the Thai place that we enjoy so much. DH will join, so it'll be a three-some and she's fine with that. I'm not really looking forward to it so I hope it goes well. She's a critical person and sometimes more than a few minutes wears on me, depending on the conversation. I need to work on my handling this relationship in the next year.
Struggling to rebound from the one day of higher calories=disaster. In this case, logging into MFP isn't proving to be a positive, mentally.
DH's younger daughter will be over tomorrow - so he's suggesting we go out. We'll see what transpires.
Bill - I could write a small book entitled, "Everything I Know About Science," and it might cover a page, maybe two. DH continually asks if I slept through all my science courses. That, of course, isn't received well. Ohms, volts, watts and amps - do we really need all of those?
Tentatively planning to see an 11 p.m. showing of "Wild" ... I started the book several times, but just couldn't get into it, despite having friends who did the PCT, and was riveted by their recaps.
Thinking of you, GardnerJoy, and hoping you're doing well and just super busy with the holidays!
MountainMamma - Enjoy your travels! We're not hitting the road for another 8-9 days... seems like it's just going to zip up on me.
Whew! It has been a one heck of a stressful 48 hours! Yesterday afternoon I came home from a caregivers massage at the hospital to a family divided.I wasn't there. I didn't participate. The only thing we can do is move forward. This morning I had to get up at 2:45 AM to take my sister to the airport. I went home and enjoyed some coffee and sat on the porch and tried to think about resolution. My opinion is that it's just a very stressful situation for four people who usually live in different abodes to be together in one small place during a difficult time. My suggestion was that we try one month at a time with a new plan. I'll be available for airport pick up/drop off and mom and sis can go over and stay at the house and have a quiet space...without the 4 extra bodies-two peeps and two pups.
DH have also agreed to try a new plan for 2015 where my hubby maintains the Westside house (which he likes better) and I will maintain a big house on the Eastside. It should be interesting and I think will alleviate a lot of the stress involved with everybody thinking they have to take care of everything all the time on two different sides of the continental divide.
Foodwise, this could quite possibly (crossing my fingers) be a really good thing for me. Shhhh. Don't tell anyone.lol. I may have a few more days by myself on the east side when I'm working and caring for my mom which gives me the opportunity to have more control of my food, and more importantly right now, a little more free time for exercise. My goal for this year would be to drop just a few more pounds and, more importantly, get back to some bike riding. I super enjoyed it and my hubby's injury prevents him from being inactive companion. When I want to go ride my bike I always feel like I'm leaving him out. So, we shall see.
Food wise, still mindful. Credit. I love that you can go into the fast food places now and look at calories. It allowed me to go into Panera today and pick out a 240 cal bagel with a 0 cal Pellegrini and avoid all the 600 cal. baked sweets which looked so wonderful.I loved my bagel and bubbly water. Beck teaches me I can become a success by practicing mindfulness.
I noticed another benefit of my weight-loss evidenced in increased self-confidence today.I was at the bank in a bad area of town and as I put my little stash in my wallet and got ready to go I realize that I'm not worried about who's out there anymore. I feel like I'm in good enough shape to handle whatever I need to handle. What a blessing.
Well, coaches, I think I will end my post for today. I am sitting outside a medical center waiting for my mom to finish with an appointment. It's out near the Denver airport so I will have driven 120 miles today it's not often I get down here twice.
Thinking of all of you as we enter another holiday week. Especially curlypudge, Gardnerjoy, silverbirch.....I am wishing everyone the gift of mindfulness and moderation combined with a little touch of compassion for the extra added stress that holidays sometimes bring.
Diet Coaches/Buddies – Fun trip to buy our Christmas tree, CREDIT moi. Came to an agreement with DW sooner than usual about size. I always want bigger. She's in charge of decorating so her input counts more. At Thanksgiving, adult DD volunteered to help decorate if we got one 'daddy-sized' but she isn't likely to get over here much before Christmas Eve. Alas, 'tis done. It stands in a pan of water out back to be brought in sometime soon.
Eating was OKish. It was lunch that got a bit large. I made the mistake of having the bag of corn strips nearby while I had humus and chips. My hand kept heading back to the bag. In the past, it's worked to serve myself and leave the bag back in the kitchen. Apparently, I'd forgotten that.
Debbie (Lexxiss) – Super Kudos for the sanity, "The only thing we can do is move forward." Sending supportive thoughts as you juggle family feelings that seem to retain all their sensitivity even as we get older. Can't do better than "0 cal Pellegrini."
nationalparker – LOL at "overflowed like volcanoes" - couldn't be many calories in volcanoes. Smart to bring your DH to dinner with a critical friend to ease the discomfort.
Readers -
Quote:
day 29Resist Food Pushers
How to Say No
If you haven't had much practice in turning down food, you might get a little nervous the first time you try it. It'll definitely get easier to do over time, as you see that nothing terrible happens.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), pg 210.
Last edited by BillBlueEyes; 12-21-2014 at 05:58 AM.
Reason: Typo
Another early check in as the day will be a busy one. Hope to have time to report back tonight that it was OP. I didn't save 2/3 of my dinner but did save 1/2 of it. When the plates arrived, my friend said, wow, that's not an NP portion, that's at least two NP portions. It really bothers DH that I always try to save half of my entree. I try to explain that what is served isn't one serving just because it's on one plate. Sometimes up in RI with pasta, it's FOUR. (I'll never get over the size of the pasta plates at places we've been up there...) anyway over calories yesterday but didn't eat after dinner.
Today the day is up in the air - baking, wrapping, mailing, and DH's younger daughter will be over to go to dinner - not sure where. I feel like everything is hovering for me to handle and that's not the case, just how I feel.
Lexxiss - Many credits for thinking through a solution, month-by-month. Will you and DH see each other much while maintaining the different homes after the new year with the weather you get there? I always think, oh i'm not driving today if I can help it on a weekend day with bad roads!! Good plans for the new year. I have a bike that I have just not used and it's the only thing I've ever had buyer's remorse over in my life. This year I wanted to get more comfortable on it ... that goal slides into '15 again. I should "ride" in the spring/summer with you and OneByOne and Karen ... and anyone else here that I've forgotten who ride.
Bill - Ahhh ... picking a real tree sounds great. I wanted a real one this year but with leaving right after Christmas, we thought it wouldn't be a great call for our home this year. We'll see. Initially thoughts were for the balled root ones but then found we could only have it in the home for five days here. I've had them before in other places (Europe) and we kept them inside for a few weeks and they lived. I guess it was more temperate and less of a difference between indoor and outdoor temps. ?? Thank you for keeping us going here when it's quiet on the boards. Nice to know I can be accountable while showing up myself.
Goal today is to go much lighter and start with salad at dinner, if offered.
Off to light a fire in the fireplace to enjoy throughout the morning and early afternoon while baking and finishing up my wrapping for items here. Christmas music is playing (Windham Hill guitar) and so pleasant. SKies are white/gray and looks dreary outside, but I can make it homey in here and feel less sad.
Last edited by nationalparker; 12-20-2014 at 08:57 AM.
hi everyone!
thanks for the kind words, i appreciate them very much. DH is out of town again this weekend to attend to a few things, but most things can wait until after Christmas fortunately, since the memorial service won't be until Jan/Feb. It will be a challenge to deal with everything out of state, and no one lives near the home where she lived, but fortunately DH and his siblings get along very well, and they will all help each other.
We're doing well- its been hard on our kids, but in a way Christmas time helps because it gets their mind off it. I am behind on xmas preps, so there may be lot of gift cards this year, but i want to do some fun things like baking cookies and helping in the church pageant.
I'm not really paying much attention to food for a bit, but trying to be as mindful as I can, and realize I am going to eat some sweets and try not to over do it.
Lexiss- thinking of your family situation, that sounds quite exhausting with ferrying folks around and the emotional issues. I didn't understand in your previous posts about the different houses but now I get it! that sounds like a great plan. Frankly I think it is good for spouses to have their own time/spaces and your plan sounds like the best of both worlds to me, for all the reasons you mentioned!
Bill- I like the sound of a Dad sized tree!
Waving to all!
Credit for checking in if only to say Bah Humbug, food not on plan. Did not workout but did walk.
BBE - Yes, thank you for keeping the forum going through these deserted days (that's deserted, NOT desserted, though guess both could apply).
lexxis, Thoughtful plan for 2015. (The DH and I both lose a little weight when we're apart. Guess we are both enablers or 'how about another cookie, honey?' Right now I hear him rummaging in the kitchen & even though I'm not hungry I'm immediately curious what he's found to snack on . . . and feel the need to keep him company . . .)
nationalparker - science class? Is that where they had those bunsen burner thingies?
Hi All,
Tracked calories - credit for that, even though still too many calories. We had a last minute open studio and it was too easy to graze on cheese and crackers. But some lovely friends came and bought gifts and we listened to Christmas jazz and I knitted. Tonight was the Messiah sing-along, which was a nice reward for being caught up on all our before Christmas commissions!
Diet Coaches/Buddies – Walk, CREDIT moi, included stopping at Trader Joe's where I watched folks buying cartloads of their cookies, cakes, and dark chocolate candies. I bought some stocking stuffers for the kids. I found small packs of dark chocolate covered almonds for them; bought none for DW and I - a good decision.
Did another hour of cleanup in my basement, CREDIT moi. Some of the work is just sorting stuff. I'm still slow to toss things away that are still usable - just not by me. DW has a box of giveaways items that will go to our curb when the weather gets warm again in hopes that some new home owner handyman thinks them useful.
nationalparker – Ouch for FOUR servings of pasta sitting on a plate in front of you. Kudos for eating only half of your entree, even though you had wanted to hold back on 2/3ds. [Love the idea of a balled tree living in the house for a few weeks and then getting transplanted outside.]
Margaret (Nuxmaga) - Several of my friends who do open studio find it to be a lot of work. One year I was called in to man the studio when the artists were called out of town. I wanted to buy a beret and smock, LOL.
curlypudge - It does sound like a challenge to handle all of the affairs for your late mother-in-law from out of state. Kudos for celebrating Christmas despite the loss so that the kids can have another focus.
Mountain Mamma - LOL at "desserted" - need to think up a definition. A good walk can save a bad day.
Readers -
Quote:
day 29Resist Food Pushers
special advice to persistent food pushers Most people will accept a simple, "No, thank you," and stop asking you to eat. But some people, as you may already know, will not.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), pg 210.
Last edited by BillBlueEyes; 12-21-2014 at 06:17 AM.
Back from a early morning trip to a supermarket where women are walking around holding shopping lists in front of them just as you would hold a hymn sheet. Men walk behind pushing trolleys. All is proceeding smoothly and then - JOY! They meet old friends and they stop, and the people behind have to detour and then - JOY! They meet old friends! And the dance goes on. It's all going according to plan down at the supermarket, so that's OK.
Back home for a bit, leaving the vintage computer with the vintage grandmother. Who knows what will happen over the next few days? My uncle is much the same but with, perhaps, more connection to the wider world as old customers and neighbours wash up in the hospital ward to visit their own relatives and friends. There are only six beds in his bay but old acquaintances are turning up all the time, just by chance. It makes a big difference to how things play out for everyone.
Food is OK as it's very far from being the centre of attention for me. The SO is home too, has made an outline of food over the Christmas period and ordered meat from the butcher. We'll busk it, and it'll be fine.
Today, I have to find a time slot and a physical space for my exercises as I haven't done them for a few days and I can feel the lack. Did I tell you that I found a leaflet at my mum's (saved by me, I think) about 'walkercise'? In brief, it's to do with engaging the foot properly when walking (from heel to especially pushing off with the toes) and taking every opportunity when not walking to engage the abs and stand tall. I worked on all this when going to and fro the hospital and I can feel my posture improving once again and see my tum looking smaller.
Thank you for your kind words in the time I've been back here. They are much appreciated. PLease forgive the lack of personals today: I am thinking of you all and willing you onward in our joint project.
Scale is up three pounds in three days. Three days of high sodium foods and lack of enough water/fluids, ALONG with extra treats is nudging that scale up and nudging my mind to panic zone. I DO NOT want to enter 2015 close to 170. So what do I do about it?
Received a box of Harry & David pears from a tower at work - the "distributor" thought I'd like those best (he was right) and others got caramel popcorn, etc. Had two for breakfast with a sprinkling of toasted slivered almonds and they were possibly the best pears I've had. I am not a great pear picker at the market. I think I'd be well-suited to the fruit stands where they ask you what you want it for and when, and then choose the ideal fruit for you. Yes, thank you!
Baking still not moving forward. Every day I mark things off that I won't be making this year. Now I'm down to iced cutout cookies (because I know my brother would really enjoy a few and not any from a market ... but he's repeated that I certainly don't need to - no pressure at all from him, just me )
Plans set for a return to being on track. Now to carry it out.
I've been reading posts, but looks like it's been a few days since I have posted. Friday and yesterday were not great for food. Great Christmas party on Friday night and then yesterday I had enough calories in Chex Mix that I could have called it dinner, but then we took my brother out for Thai. We shared a couple of things and it was very good. I have hiked 6 out of the last 7 days, so credit for that. I for one am looking forward to clearing the house of any temptation. It won't be long now. I truly believe not baking has saved me at least a few pounds though. I'm probably holding my own. Weight in tomorrow.
A wave to all of you. Brother and sister in law are here thru Christmas Day and then a week off before the next set of visitors.
This is my favorite day of the year when we reach the apex of the shortest day/longest night and we head towards Spring. Always makes me feel good.
And... I am hanging onto that feeling of goodness as my food went haywire this week. After no sugar since August 19th on Tuesday I gave in to some homemade banana bread as I struggled through my first screen printing class with my first group of 5 students, all friends. The class went long. There were too many people and the printing wasn't going well and I expected to be done and instead wasn't so had not brought food. I truly debated that one slice of banana bread and gave in. While not a terrible choice I truly cannot have sugar and spent the next day fighting cravings for MORE SUGAR and then I seriously messed up Thursday when again I was running behind, again stressed out and a short visit to an artist friend who had, I swear, 12 dozen cookies, handed me a large, maybe an extra large, ziplock bag and I filled it. Shamelessly. I filled it with everything under the sun. And then I ate it. Not all, but a lot. Me and DH ate it. Three days in a row I was caught unprepared and starving and I just simply ate. Coincidentally (?) I have had a very upset stomach for a few days now. I am administering my old cure for a sore stomach, which is to eat more. Where that remedy came from I have no clue but it's what's been going on. Last night we had the first of 2 xmas dinners. This oen was very reasonable and delicious at a local pioneer village/museum. We purchased tickets in Sept for this event for MIL and us so we could skip the big xmas dinner at her place this year. It would have worked except SIL at the last minute said she was coming for xmas and so now xmas dinner and present-buying is happening in full force. ugh. I am now busily trying to complete two paintings. One for MIL and one for SIL (promised ages ago as a house warming). I am not baking at all though. I have had it. It's back to no sugar for me. All the "good stuff" from the bag is gone. It's over and time to move on. I keep thinking I am ready to change and then I slip like this.
I need a new plan. I'm heading towards being not-well I can feel it in my bones.
Have a good evening everyone.
PS I did have a stellar second screen printing class Friday night with 3 people. That number worked well for what we have to do. It turns out, it's a lot! I felt way better about teaching the second time around--thanks to the first group I got to re-work it all.
Curlypudge: So sorry to hear of the sudden passing of your MIL. Wishing you and yours my condolences.
Friday
or 'how about another cookie, honey?' Right now I hear him rummaging in the kitchen & even though I'm not hungry I'm immediately curious what he's found to snack on . . . and feel the need to keep him company . . .)
to Everyone!!!
catching you up
Happy Winter Solstice! 