Quick check-in. Following my new response card to do my errands in the morning with a trip to the grocery store before the day really gets started.
WI: +0.35 kg, Exercise: +40 40/1300 minutes for April, Food: 80% op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes
nationalparker: actually 16K steps is several miles! I rarely make it to 10K steps even on days when we do our 40 minute walks.
BillBlueEyes: yay for getting into the garden! I spread compost yesterday. We expect a couple of rainy days. When it dries out again, I'll run the cultivator over it all. While I was at the nursery. I bought some lettuce and kale plants. I usually grow those from seeds, but it will be fun to have a bit of a head start on the first harvest.
We wanted a long light fixture over the top of the mirror. We found only a handful of LED light fixtures that could be installed over a sink that sits in a corner -- the others needed access from both sides. I don't think I saw a single one that could be installed over a sink with walls on both sides -- which describes more than half the powder rooms in the St. Louis region and, I suspect, Boston as well.
It is the start of spring break for me which is super nice. But Easter plans have now been mixed with a Monday funeral, a possible jury duty, an impending violin recital, and I need to slow down and breathe. I know that the harried feeling is bubbling up through tremendous sadness at the loss of the family friend. The coroner's report came back with no conclusions as to her death. She simply stopped breathing. Her brother, a doctor, who lived close by reached her before the paramedics. He could not revive her. She was 48 and bulletproof right? Mom, VP at nationwide company, retirement plan and Hawaiin vacations. Nothing can happen. My SIL is heartbroken.
I know that it is a good thing that my heart responds to others' sadness. The trouble is, my defect of being "hyper-responsible" makes me want to fix and heal. That is not my business. That is god's business. I know two things. There is a god and I am not it. My job just for today is to continue with my eating plan; to buy Easter treats for my beautiful son, to pack and to pray.
Another gratitude note: I did not have to change my ticker up for the month. Weight is at ticker. The physical stuff is much better. Now is the time my new eating practices and stronger resistance muscle can move the scale lower.
Best to all. Check in will be sporadic as I travel.
Hello Everyone
I want to thank everyone for the helpful ideas for hosting the meeting at my house this morning. Your suggestions were very helpful. I ended up making blueberry muffins and a big fruit salad. And I DID successfully eat less breakfast in anticipation and planned to have just a snack for lunch. That was the positive.
The negative. Leftover muffins became an unexpected temptation. I didn’t do well. After everyone left, while putting things away, I STOOD at the kitchen counter and scarfed down one. Later, while packing the remainder for the freezer, I had another. Not one sabotaging thought came to mind for me to respond to. Not one. Just gobble gobble. Bypassing my brain. Amnesia. 100% diet amnesia.
Not good. But done. The past. All I can do now is to extract the lessons. And learn for the future.
1. Mistake1: I didn’t read my advantages this morning, which I have been doing DAILY. I was too busy baking and last minute tidying and getting things ready. Note to self: remember to read advantages every day, especially on days that spell trouble.
2. Mistake2: I didn’t read this thread and hear from you all.
3. Mistake3: I could have packed ALL the extra muffins and sent them away with the guests but I didn’t. Note to self: Have a plan for dealing with leftovers.
4. Mistake4: I could have predicted temptation and could have had a response card or reminder card at the ready. Note to self: Plan ahead and have cards at the ready, especially “No choice”… and a new one “Don’t forget!”
...and I plan to make dinner and the evening ON PLAN...
Day 4 - On Track! Well, nearly, but I'm counting it! Faced down some amazing food at at fancy-schmancy buffet, got involved talking with someone from work who I only knew by sight to say hi, and ate just a few small bites. Ended the night with a slice+part of a super thin crust pizza and still was able to come in just over the top of my calorie range. So not a perfect day but I'm happy with the super late dinner as it was a nice treat.
Will aim to balance it tomorrow with more activity and staying on track. I know we'll have a lot of challenges this weekend - late night sports events and no food allowed of course.
Need to check in earlier tomorrow and state my resolutions and commit to following through.
Diet Coaches/Buddies – Eating was 100% on-plan, CREDIT moi. I did think about snacks in the afternoon when I had something to do and not doing it appealed. Snacking seems to help in the not doing - when active, snacks aren't on my mind.
Walked, CREDIT moi, to my morning errand at a new location. It wasn't that much further from my house than many other places that I walk; it was just in a different direction. It took me a while thinking about the difficulty of parking before it even crossed my mind to walk. I need to draw a two-mile circle on a map around my house and declare all space enclosed to be walking space.
Joy (gardenerjoy) – Yay for a weekday trip to the grocery store to avoid the weekend crowd. [Thanks for the LED fixture installation info - it's a new issue to have in mind when shopping for lights.]
Debbie (Lexxiss) – Continued supporting thoughts as you continue to keep your path while the issues of others blaze around you. Kudos for that Costco performance without taking the FREE samples. LOL at "all the prettys' that live there" - perhaps a bored scientist will someday study the life forms in such places.
maryann - Sending supportive thoughts as you face the loss of a youngish family friend. Thanks for the reflections about those feelings of being responsible that rise up.
nationalparker – It's the "fancy-schmancy buffet" that triggers my brain to think that I have to over-indulge as if I'll never see another. Kudos for finding your path through that.
Ani (dailypractice) - Yep, "diet amnesia" is an affliction that can't be called a Sabotaging Thought since the mind seems to just disappear for a spell. Kudos for the new card, “Don’t forget!”
Readers -
Quote:
day 33Eliminate Emotional Eating
what are you thinking?
Do you feel unsure about your ability to get control of emotional eating? If so, take a moment to identify and respond to your sabotaging thoughts.
Sabotaging Thought: I can't calm down without eating. Helpful Response: There are lots of techniques I can use instead of turning to food. I'll be very glad in a little while that I didn't compound the original problem by eating.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), pg 230.
I’ve gotten behind on writing personal responses… and I don’t want to get behind. It’s been so important and helpful to me to read what each of you are experiencing. BTW… I NEVER miss READING your posts. It’s all helpful. The positive experiences as well as the struggles. Thanks much. And wishing everyone a healthy on-plan day.
Nationalparker: Thanks much for the ideas re: my morning meeting. Eg. suggesting a response to food pushers, saying it looks wonderful and I’ll take it home for later… Kudos on getting out your pedometer and wow… that’s lots of steps!!!
Spanky: How saavy of you to have a sign that says "Sit Down" right where you need it. Wishing you the best with the stressful road trip and catered meals. Sounds like a major challenge.
Karen: Kudos on the long walk and on being mindful to notice when eating is getting a bit over plan and “reining” it in.
Violette: I LOVE LOVE your words: “That's baloney. I ate a doughnut because doughnuts taste good and I can't blame anyone else”. I’m the first one to want to blame someone else. I love this.
Onebyone: So glad to see you checking in and glad that “writing your fears” helped somewhat. And kudos for attending WW. Sending you strength for the battle ahead against the inner saboteurs who are ganging up on you.
Bill: Thanks much for the snack idea. Mmmmm. Sounds good. And healthy… Bell peppers and humus. Kudos for the walks, the gardening and the OP eating
Lexxiss (Debbie R) Kudos for doing your best to take care of yourself and remembering the serenity prayer at a time when you’re embroiled in other’s problems. Good idea for a new card: "No Drive Thru” Congrats on Passing the samples
GardenerJoy: Glad to hear you’re having success following your new response card re: errand timing.
Maryann: Sounds like a Good idea to take the time to remember to “slow down and breathe” in a time of grief and sadness. I’m so sorry for your loss.
The road trip home was nightmarish, my husband crushed and angry at what we were told was a "done deal" suddenly up in smoke. Very frustrating and wrenching for our family.
We had to dash back across the state, get our son after school and dash to Mass where DS was serving. The long service cleared my head a bit but the night devolved into an uncounted carb binge.
I just didn't have a plan or enough stress relief techniques in place for such a trying day. Today both DS and I are off and I'm trying to get a solid plan in place before we go out the door on our two missions: to buy an Easter ham for the monastery and deliver it and to attend Good Friday services.
I overate yesterday to self-medicate a bad mood. On some levels, it worked. But I felt physically icky all night and I hated the number on the scale this morning. So, I need a different strategy. I'm going to devote big chunks of the next three days to a mood improvement project. First step, identify the things I can change (the state of my In Boxes) and the things I can't (the pollen count), and find ways to deal with both -- seeking wisdom and serenity.
WI: +0.7 kg, Exercise: +40 40/1300 minutes for April, Food: 50% op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes
Today the requisite donuts are in the office. Yesterday I was told (jokingly) that I ruined it for donuts this week since, when asked, I said no, I wouldn't eat one today. I said hey - each man for himself.
Interesting thoughts on blaming food eaten. I've never even thought of doing that - I guess I take complete ownership and then proceed to beat myself up over it sometimes. It's not that someone pushed - it's that I gave in. It's not that someone tempted me or guilted me, it's that I chose to go offtrack. I think there is a middle ground where yep - we strayed and yep it was completely our choice, but we're not failures bc of that. I lean a bit more toward that fail side in my mind.
Day 5 for me started with a plan for a later breakfast and we'll see how that affects the day. Just a 'hair' under ticker today. Aiming to go healthy/lighter today to offset a higher cal yesterday.
Reading "Half-a&&ed" a weight loss memoir on my kindle from the library and the author has some funny lines. If you trip and fall down, you're not a bad walker. So basically why completely hammer on yourself when you stumble when on program. I LOVE THOSE images. Meshes with my "get up, dust yourself off, and keep on going" journal lines.
Aiming to return tonight with a successful day noted and personals
Last edited by nationalparker; 04-03-2015 at 11:17 AM.
Thought I'd write to you guys before I head off into the 2nd leg of my day today. I'm ready to set the gallery up at the BH for my print exchange show. I have 24 prints with 2 on their way. I changed the opening date to tomorrow to give me the extra time and glad I did. I'll be there mid afternoon doing a woodblock carving demo and chatting with whoever is around. I know one of the printmakers is coming to check it out. So, after I get there it'll be a few hours of work and then home to figure out how I can get done the rest of it.
Foodwise I did attend the WW meeting yesterday and was welcomed back with a huge hug from the WW leader who's a cool chick and facebook friend. It felt good to be there and I think it will really help to keep me on track. I need a lot of outside reinforcement cause the interior ones are shaky at times and I can easily talk myself out of even the need to lose weight. I can completely forget (hello dailypractice I hear you) that I even need to lose weight let alone stay on plan. I'm serious about this. Unless it is a special event or a group photo or a show or a family thing, anywhere where people I don't see often are, I forget about about my weight. Oh the other time I am reminded is when I physically get challenged which is waaaaayyyyy more often than I like these days, but even that I can assimilate. So, I need outside reminders. BTW I recognized many folks there and this one woman is down 80lb and kept it off now for 2 years. She was losing weight as I exited. Another one I remember will be wearing her bikini this summer. All good. I am good with this and have tracked my food exactly yesterday and so far today *credit*. My weekend challenge will be MIL the foodpusher on Sunday evening at her place for dinner. She's making pie and ham and who knows what else. I am ready for her. Bring it on!
Went a little over on the calories yesterday after getting on the scale and seeing I had lost another pound. You know I was just wasting away and afraid I would lose too quickly . . . sure. Anyway, I was afraid to get on the scale this morning. Yesterday I didn't get any planned exercise. I was a tad down in the dumps cause the pain from my injury has not decreased as quickly as I would hope. I cut my pain meds significantly and it just didn't work. I saw the doctor yesterday after an x-ray and he says things are still lined up well and he moved my arm around and was very pleased with how I'm doing. That was very reassuring. I told him about the pain and he agreed this is a painful break. I just got back from a little more than 2 hour walk, credit.
BBE I wish we could all latch on to your 100% on plan somehow. It seems a few of us are struggling a bit for one reason or another.
Nationalparker Keep up the work. It seems you are one of the people doing pretty well right now.
Ani It is hard to have the good stuff in the house. As often as possible I send it home with whomever will take it. Sometimes that is hard to do cause nobody wants the temptations around.
Maryann I am so sorry to hear of the loss of your family friend. That is way too young.
Gardenerjoy I'm glad to hear you are able to be out in the garden, but sorry the pollen count makes it difficult for you. Hopefully the rain will clear the air a bit.
Spanky I'm sorry for your trying times. I hope you are able to enjoy the Easter weekend.
Lexxis Sounds like you had a productive and busy day with your inside and outside projects. Hoping your stress diminishes and in the meantime praying you have the strength to continue handling it.
Onebyone Hoping WW has a good lecturer and is inspiring for you. I know the program is a good one, but the lecturer always made such a difference for me when I went.
I will have to say this injury has been enlightening for me. I don't seem to be able to do any of the things that I usually do: hike, cook, shop, iron. And my husband and I have both learned he is pretty rigid with his routines for the day. He has been very sweet and does whatever I need or want him to do, but I can see it is much more difficult for him than it is for me when I have to do that. Maybe it is just that I have had so much more caregiving experience, both for my parents, sister in law and for him. I am very grateful that this is a temporary thing and hope I can keep my feet under me after this.
There is a flower bed out front, maybe 4' wide by 20' long, that the landlord cut all the trees/shrubs from last year. In their place weeds sprung up and in particular weeds that have burrs. The stalks are really tall, like 6' tall, but everything is still dead/dormant and I'd like to remove this stuff and clean out the whole bed before it starts to grow.
Question#1 - what do I wear to do this work? I keep thinking I need a jump suit so the burrs attach to it. Do I wear something I think I'll toss out after? I know I need gardening gloves.
Question#2 - do I dig these plants up with a shovel and then dig up the flower bed? I want to put weed blocking fabric down to prevent them from coming back with a vengeance this summer. Is this a good plan? (Guess that's another question!)
Question#3 - I didn't clean out my planters last fall. Now there are dead plants in planters in old soil. Is this soil any good? Should I replace it?
Any help/experience would be appreciated. Thanks. Feel free to PM me if you don't want to clutter up the forum!
One by one, were there any plants that you liked in this flower bed last year? Perhaps you could remove the plants with burrs, (jump suit sounds right) and watch what comes up you may want to keep. ( Hope you can simply pick off the burs while sitting down to rest.)
Some perennials that return each year have established great roots and do best after two or more years. New ones will take a while (a year or so) before they perform well.
Now that you have a sunny bed instead of one shaded by trees, you may need entirely different kinds of flowers. You will be fighting tree stumps and roots below ground so you have a big job ahead of you. Sounds discouraging but it can also be fun.
Perhaps a part that has the least roots could be tackled first. Wave petunias can be planted in small amount of decent soil then will spread out about 2 feet in all directions and give lots of color. They need water and sunlight.
Planter? We pulled out all the stumps and roots from our pots yesterday and are left with at least some decent potting soil for this year's plants. It is expensive to completely remove all, and contrary to some advice given, there are more GOOD bugs and bacteria than there are bad ones in that soil.
Gardening gets me lippy, but it has been my passion for ages.
Spanky We also went to Holy Thursday Mass and came home in reflective mood. Later I felt I was starving and ignored all I've learned and binged. Go figure.
Sorry for your awful trip and having to rush, too. Nerve wrecking for sure.
NationalParker, you are stringing together some impressive days. Isn't it fun to see those steps mount up? If I'm close to the next hundred or thousand, I'll walk around the house till it rolls over.
Bill Surprised the kale survived even if it went on compost instedad of inside. Will any of your shrubs be able to survive? We've only lost one of the newer ones, but our snow came and would melt before the next batch so more plants survived.
Karen Thank goodness for your ability to continue walking!
Debbie Surely you'll get some relief days that you can concentrate on what you need and want!
Today was a great family day at a local farm. Easter egg hunt, baby animals, magic show, tractor rides and lots of fun things for kids.
Ate two things off plan but managed to rein it back in by supper. Got in a walk.
Tomorrow will be a better eating day!
Up in Lake Tahoe waiting for my boys to arrive tomorrow. Beautiful walk along the Tahoe Legacy Trail to get in my 10,000 steps. Fasting for Good Friday. I am proud of myself how I have cleared wheat from my diet. I am contemplating whether I will continue the ban after Lent. I know Sunday will not be as I have planned a special meal but after that I have to do some writing about where to go now. I know I will continue 3 meals with one of the meals being a smoothie. I feel I need to give myself more time healthy to see if this is a fit for me.
A moving Good Friday Mass today. I hope Spanky's was as well.
Thinking of starting Middlemarch as an audiobook 27 hours.. Apparently it is one of the best novel's ever written. I missed it somehow. I just don't think it will compare to my beloved Pride and Prejudice by Austen. I have been walking with my audiobooks which is a nice change. I have already downloaded from the library Tom Sawyer for us all to listen to on the long drive to San Francisco for the funeral on Monday.
Dailypractice: A big help to me was to throw food away and put dishwashing soap on it. Sometimes I need this quick exit strategy.
Cheers for all the gumption being demonstrated in resisting doughnuts, going to WW and every other little habit we develop that takes us closer to our goal.
A case of diet amnesia
Friday
good/goodies
off topic-gardening question
