Just a quick one. Had too many snacks yesterday for no good reason. It put calories over what I needed. Great hike today with friends and so far food on plan too. It is such much easier when I earn enough exercise calories to get a little more to eat.
Today was pretty good. I was feeling very ill, so only did ½ of my planned walk. I am feeling better now, thankfully! I plan to do my full walk tomorrow. Food was on plan. My husband was kind enough to cook lunch and dinner since I wasn't feeling well and needed to work. So, my calories were just a little bit over my goal, but I think I just need to plan for that to be the case when he cooks for this month. He was really helpful in telling me all of the ingredients and worked hard on his estimations of their quantity. I did catch myself shoveling food in my mouth on the way to my seat for my snack. Ooops! I have let a mess accumulate on the table, so I have not eaten there for 2 days. I will put that on my to do list to clear it off and set it nicely to end that problem.
Bill Blue Eyes, as per usual, great job getting in your walk. Also great job for food being close to plan!
Curly Jax, great job for getting in exercise with shoveling. I hope your soup was delicious!
Gardener Joy, I must disagree with you not being able to celebrate your Valentine's Day "for real". You can celebrate exactly how you want! Great job for coming up with a new plan.
Karen, RN, I am glad you enjoyed your hike! Great job!
National Parker, congratulations on the excellent day yesterday and planning for leftovers after lunch! I am not using a set exercise program, just aiming to do a little bit more each week. I started with just walking around the neighborhood, which I could do easily, regularly increasing distance. I have been using Runtastic to track the time it is taking, trying to push myself a bit faster regularly. I would eventually like to comfortably walk a 5k/day. I might try jogging some, but honestly my body has never been one designed for running. My husband only walks with me once or twice a week. I usually work that out to be my "rest" day, as we saunter really. If it isn't a rest day, I just use that part as a warm up and continue on my own.
One by One, great insight about the dreariness of cheat day aftermath. Good job putting the scale in to perspective and getting in your walk! I hope things went as well as possible with the trip to the cancer center.
Sandy (Love 2 Garden), it sounds like you having wonderful gardening skills! I keep trying, but am a very subpar gardener.
Good Dr visit with MIL who was miffed the Dr was all doom and gloom last time and this time positive. Her tests show no change which is great. Cancer possibly slow growing which is the best scenario for her. She's gained 11lbs to 113 which is also needed.
I left thinking the cancer will be a roller coaster ride. Every three months we will have no clue what to expect. Oh well. For today there was relief.
Thursday - Japan founded by Emperor Jimmu Tenno (660 BC)
Diet Coaches/Buddies – Walked, CREDIT moi, to my meeting last night. I was surprised that I didn't need to have worn my boots - every sidewalk was clear and there were no puddles. It was ideal winter walking conditions. At the last minute, I had to put a new black ink cartridge into my HP printer; after the printer assured me that it was new and genuine HP, it failed to print ink even though the printer thought it full. Fortunately, DW's printer was OK and I got what I needed for my meeting.
Meals were on plan, CREDIT moi. DW made a new recipe for Mac and Cheese - touted by the Boston Globe as the world's best. Good, but not as good as her regular. The good news is that she made the entire recipe that filled our largest casserole dish; I'll have Mac and Cheese for the next week.
onebyone – Neat good news that your MIL cancer is stable. The roller coaster part certainly sounds like a challenge.
Joy (gardenerjoy) – Neat to clandestinely celebrate Valentine's Day - it sounds so ... so revolutionary, LOL. DW would divorce me if I bought her roses for Valentine's Day; she does accept Daffodils to cheer up the passage of winter.
FutureFitChick – Hope you're feeling better - it's hard to stay the path when off kilter.
nationalparker – Super Kudos for "ate until I wasn't hungry" - I so like hearing that again and again to bash it into my mind.
Karen (karenrn) - I do know about "snacks for no good reason" - I'll think about that today when the snack urges come.
curlyjax - LOL at the non-matching placemats. When we recently had a party for my DD, DW insisted that the doormat on the front porch was unsightly; it definitely needed to be changed. It hadn't been declared unsightly for the last dozen years, but became so that day.
Sandy (love2garden) - LOL at "when I decide to move them around (which is rather often)" - that's so like DW who constantly seeks to find the best spot for each of the plants. Congrats to your DH for getting his hearing aids set to his preference.
Readers -
Quote:
Chapter 4 Emotional Eating Traps
Next we did some problem solving in case she didn't have time to prepare a meal or ran out of healthy food. She came up with ideas for some quick and healthy options she could get on the way home from work. She made a list of restaurants and food shops and jotted down specific items she would get.
Then I asked her whether getting fast food was really a treat, given how she felt afterward. She created another reminder card:
Fast food may seem like a treat, but it's actually the
opposite of a treat when I impulsively get unhealthy
food and overeat. I should occasionally plan in
advance to get a fast-food meal, bring it home, eat it
slowly, and enjoy every bite. In between, if I want to
treat myself, I should do it in nonfood ways. I could
get a new book, a nice-smelling candle, a new nail
polish color, or a celebrity magazine.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., Deborah Beck Busis, The Diet Trap Solution, Train Your Brain to Lose Weight and Keep It Off for Good (Blue book), pg. 74
I did slightly better yesterday. Aiming for even better today!
I made a new card based on recent experience. It's both a Response and an Advantage, I'm putting it in the Advantage deck for now because it's smaller and I pay more attention to those:
Quote:
When I eat more than what’s on my plan, I wake up in the middle of the night feeling icky and horrible. I want to give myself peaceful nights by following my plan.
WI: NA kg, Exercise: +40, 385/1200 minutes for January, Food: 70% op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes
nationalparker: looks like we'll end up with chili and my special Valentine's treat of chocolate chip bread (I even throw a bit of whole wheat flour -- much less fat than candy and much less fat & sodium than commercial baked goods) plus a romantic comedy for Valentine's Day. We're expecting snow, so it will be a cozy night in. DH has a cold this week or we might have managed the Orchid Show or the International Photography Hall of Fame -- maybe next week.
Last edited by gardenerjoy; 02-11-2016 at 09:51 AM.
Credit for getting on the scale this morning (didn't want to yesterday after too many snacks on Tuesday). Credit for being about the best maintainer I know of. Scale was just the same as it has been for literally months other than a little jog up and down at Christmas. The thing is if I would just not have those little extras here and there I would probably have a loss one of these days. I refuse to beat myself up, although I am trying to remind myself that the temps are getting warmer and I have many skirts that would fit and be comfortable if I got down to business and lost 5 or 10 pounds. I am going to try them on today to see if that will give me a little extra motivation. Today is strength training class at the Y and then I think I'll get some walking in too. Tonight we're going out to the cowboy and line dancing bar with a group of friends. Dinner choices won't be great so I'll have to rely on portion size.
Bill My husband would love to be in your shoes and have all that mac and cheese. I'll be working on filling the freezer for him in about 6 months so he can have some home cooked meals while I'm in Spain. Mac and cheese will be on the docket for sure.
Onebyone I'm glad there was some good news at mil's doctor appointment. You are right about it being a roller coaster ride. It's hard not to get too up and too down with the news along the way.
FutureFitChick I'm glad you're feeling better again. What a treat to have a husband who shares the cooking. My husband does a lot of things around the house, but cooking isn't one of them.
Sandy You make gardening sound so enticing. I actually enjoyed it some in Washington, but I can't get myself to learn anything about what to do in AZ. And yes this country is so big that the climate is very different from one place to another. I would love to be in the snow for just a little bit. It's always so beautiful at least at the beginning when it's white.
Nationalparker I do what your husband does and put my cold hands on my husband. He says, "Get those ice picks off of me". Also very endearing.
The Daniel Plan is mostly a pretty common sense (I think) diet which includes Faith, Food, Fitness, Focus and Friends. I think some of the thoughts in the Focus portion are Beck type strategies. They promote half the plate in vegetables, one quarter lean protein, one quarter whole grains and choosing fruit that has a low glycemic index. There are some other more strict ideas for a limited period of time of eliminating caffeine, alcohol, gluten, dairy and artificial substances partly to see if a person has sensitivities and would feel better without those things. And overall following this 90% of the time with 10% treats or whatever. My church has a weekly meeting for 6 to 7 weeks and I figured it is also a way to meet more people. I may actually try to be more diligent next week when dh goes to Costa Rica for the week.
GardenerJoy Thanks for reminding me I had better do something about Valentine's Day. We are really lame about celebrating, but we always buy each other a card that is romantic and sentimental.
Maryann I hope the transition to the medication regimen is helpful and goes smoothly. Certainly is fortunate that you already don't drink so it isn't something you have to give up now. Thinking of you and hoping you're feeling good.
Karen Wish we were with you for the cowboy and line dancing. We had western Square Dancing for years every weekend and usually during the week at least one night for lessons even tho we'd been dancing for years.
My brother and his wife Alice were in Arizona square dancing when Alice looked at a man and said "Boy, you like like our Uncle Dan!" He laughted and said "*I AM your Uncle Dan." Both couples were from other states and happen to meet up there.
BillLucky you for a second printer in house.
One byONe What a good surprise for your MIL with the Doctor. Hope the next visit is even better.
Re-reading Journal from last 4 months to see if there is progress and if so where it is. What a delight to find positive improvement ins some areas of my life, even tho scale shows a definite problem.
Credit: Eating is a Beck rated "very good" Credit: Sleel time was much improved. Credit: Credit card balance was lowest ever. Some blessing from so much snow that traveling was limited.
Sandy
Last edited by love2garden; 02-11-2016 at 03:10 PM.
Just a quick check in to say I tried on the skirts and sure enough I can get them on but wouldn't wear them in public until I lose 5 or 10 pounds depending upon the skirt. I also found a couple that are too big and I placed them in the Goodwill bag.
I finally feel as if I have turned a corner on awareness - at least for the time being. I got home late after running some errands following work and immediately heated up a serving of green beans and poured some iced tea. That took the edge off my hunger so I didn't start noshing on things while putting items away. With DH out, it's just me and while this used to be the time I did the best, able to make smaller dinners, etc, lately I've overeaten. But today again, I've been successful at eating until no longer hungry. I ate about half of my lunch and surprised myself that I didn't "need" more until a while ago. Yes, I was hungry while running errands, but I don't pick up extra food or get tempted to stop for food. For some reason that's not a trigger for me. Thankful for small favors. I did well with dinner, though it was stretched out as I diced up sweet potatoes and roasted them for tonight and tomorrow for DH.
I got my blood test results back today and was relieved they said the lipids and glucose were great. I have the fear that with the strength that diabetes runs in part of my family, that it'll be an issue. They did say that they're referring me to another physician due to hypothyroidism so we'll see what that's about - if it just needs to be monitored or what.
One time I struggle with my eating control is when I zip home at lunch to see/move the pets around and grab a bite there. I will sit and eat something but then always seem to take more back with me or eat more than I need. YAY to not have done that today. Ate breakfast much later than normal.
DH got the exercise bike going last night - so before I hopped in a hot tub (bought myself some stress relief foaming bath stuff tonight as a $5 splurge ... but is it that which provides the stress relief or is it truly the hot water?) but back to point is I actually got the time on the bike that I had set as a goal for myself today. I did NOT want to, but did. Now I'm glad I did.
FutureFitChick - Love that your DH cooks and includes you with meal info. Smart way to deal with those meals by slightly allowing more calories on those days! Credit! Hope you're feeling better SOON! Hang in there and take care of yourself! Stay warm!
Bill - Would love to join you and your DH for your mac and cheese meals. That remains a favorite of mine - probably since I never had it growing up as my mom didn't like cheese. Savor!
Karen - Whoo hoo on the skirts! That's exciting - both to fit into some and to be smaller than others! Your temps just sound so wonderful. They said tomorrow night will be 1 degree. I'll check again in the morning. Ugh. But I know how limiting it is in July/Aug when you were getting up at 4 a.m. to get in some serious hiking.
CurlyJax - I JUST went through my placemats (oh, so many) spotcleaning those that couldn't be washed ... washing those that could, and then ironing them. A few were pulled from use, but then I struggle because I want to save them to use on a table on the patio under candles or something. I do love place settings. Credits to you for handling that!
OneByOne - Good news on MIL and thank you for sharing. Your assessment of her attitude about it made me smile.
Love2Garden - That is great to hear that you're seeing progress in various areas. Wise to review and now look forward. Credits! LOL on your Uncle Dan as well - LOVE it!
It's interesting to me how many of you dance, often routinely!
Hello Joy, Maryann and Lexxiss! Hope you're anticipating a good weekend. I got way too long here. Sorry.
Last edited by nationalparker; 02-11-2016 at 09:59 PM.
Friday - Abraham Lincoln & Charles Darwin born (1809)
Diet Coaches/Buddies – Walk, CREDIT moi, allowed stops at the pharmacy and the library. I deliberately didn't wear boots - the right choice as the snow hasn't yet melted enough to form those slush puddles at intersections. The library had a book for me that I'd request even though I'd also ordered it used from Amazon; I wanted the library copy to read until my copy arrived. Amazingly, the Amazon copy arrived at my door before the library copy arrived at the local library. That catches me by surprise.
A pretty good food day, CREDIT moi. Perhaps it's because I've eaten all the desirable snack foods, LOL. It's cold enough to find last evening's dinner of bean soup comforting.
Joy (gardenerjoy) – "[ I]cky and horrible" sound like strong motivators.
FutureFitChick – Kudos for exercise and on plan eating despite being sick.
nationalparker – Super incident handling the stress of work without adding calories to the day. Yay for good blood tests.
Karen (karenrn) - Thanks for the reminder, "I refuse to beat myself up." Yay for clothes that are too big.
Sandy (love2garden) - LOL at "I AM your Uncle Dan." Kudos for taking the time to review your last months to discover the positive improvements.
Readers -
Quote:
Chapter 4 Emotional Eating Traps
We also started a lit of self-soothing activities Beth could do when she needed comfort. She added to the list in the coming weeks.
Comforting Activities
Take a hot bath with aromatherapy.
Turn on loud music and dance.
Curl up on the sofa with a blanket and watch a romantic comedy.
Look at my favorite pictures of friends an family.
Walk Max, groom him, or cuddle with him on the sofa.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., Deborah Beck Busis, The Diet Trap Solution, Train Your Brain to Lose Weight and Keep It Off for Good (Blue book), pg. 75
How to Shovel Snow without Injury
By gardenerjoy (who is not a doctor, PT, or nurse – just a librarian with tricky knees and lower back problems)
Start weeks in advance with a strength-training program (at least twice a week) that includes squats and lunges. I didn’t realize what it means to “lift with your legs” until I was strong enough – it means to do the exact same well-formed squat or lunge that you do while exercising.
Be happy! Shoveling is the closest thing most adults get to playing in the snow so summon the energy of making snow angels and sledding.
Warm-up by walking around to assess the situation and doing an easy area first where it’s simply pushing the snow. Use a shovel with a long enough handle that you’re not bending over to push snow.
The safest sequence for depositing a full shovel of snow is to squat or lunge, lift with your legs, and turn the shovel to dump.
Avoid any awkward movements of the arms while lifting. Arm movements happen when feet are firmly planted either in a squat or lunge or when fully risen.
Avoid tossing the snow from the shovel by a rapid forward movement of the arms – that’s a good way to pull a back muscle. Turn the shovel and tap the handle to get the snow to release from the side.
Stretch the hamstring muscles during your cool-down.
WI: NA kg, Exercise: +50, 435/1200 minutes for January, Food: 80% op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes
Food just a little over calorie wise yesterday due to beer I drank at the cowboy bar last evening. My exercise plan for today was just to get a walk of at least 5.2 miles, because that's my daily to keep up with my challenge. However, I felt so good when I got up that I did the Bell Pass hike of 7.5 miles. I am ever so grateful for my good health and it is so much easier for me when I earn some extra exercise calories.
GardenerJoy I loved your description of safe snow shoveling. It just seems so crazy that I'm now having to get out earlier for my exercise because it's getting to be mid 80's by the afternoon. I'm enjoying listening to Paris as I hike.
Bill Yes, isn't it easier when there is nothing good left to eat in the house. Luckily my house is usually that way.
Nationalparker Sounds like things are going well. Glad your blood work was good. Heck maybe you're going to need some thyroid meds which will make weight loss a tiny bit easier. Yes, our temps are lovely, although too warm for this time of year. Just means I get out a little earlier, but certainly not 4 a.m.
FutureFitChick I hope you're feeling better soon.
Well, I guess I'd better get cleaned up and get something done today. Have a great Friday everybody.
Hi everyone! Such erratic posting I have been doing, sheesh!
Not much to report- DD "made" me go to the gym yesterday and we're going again to day. My legs are really sore since I haven't been stretching but I guess it won't kill me to walk a bit!
Bill- computers and printers have a mind of their own, I think!! Futurefitchick- goodness, I hope you feel better soon!! At least you're not missing beautiful spring weather outside! love2garden- nice that you're seeing improvements in areas, that's a good idea to read your journal. Mine tends to be complaining mostly but sometimes I see progress! karenrn- you are indeed the best maintainer I know! that is huge. I wish I could be maintaining from a few months ago rather than gaining! nationalparker- increased awareness is always good. Funny that we are both doing placemats! okay, I haven't actually DONE anything yet but I'm planning to! Gardenerjoy- great shoveling tips! Except for the be happy one, that is a challenge when its biting wind and its the 2nd time you've been outside onebyone- great news about your m-in law!
Wave to Lexiss and Maryann and all you lurkers!
It's going to be bitterly cold over the weekend here but then warm up in a few days. I need to find some good movies on Netflix!
Not a lot to report today - feel like I have 101 plans for every Friday evening, whether DH is home or not, and then I get home and just melt and veg. I had a longer work day and have been working off/on tonight as my busier season started in earnest and will run through start of June. Think I'll make a cup of hot tea and take a hot bath and warm up a bit. Night plans only include hunkering down, listening to the wind howling, and reading a good mystery. Food has been on plan today - about 100 calories over and I'm ok with that today. Faced down another donut Friday and get this - my big struggle was there were two donuts left when I shut down the office tonight. I opened the box and looked again, before tossing them. Honestly, if there was one that would have been easier to break a bite off of, I might have. But they were filled. Small victories haha.
Bill - I cannot remember if I asked you if you've watched the BBC Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch. We have been so taken with that show and recommended it to another friend today and saw it was a 9.3 on IMDB. I think you'd really enjoy it. Not Beck-related, but ... I wish we had more to watch - we're saving the last one for a night to really kick back and savor it.
Karen - Was your husband going to meet you after your Camino hike for some time over there? Have you ever thought of presenting talks on your hikes - you've done some doozies!
CurlyJax - Yay for you going with DD to the gym! Mega credits. I like your idea of looking for a few good movies for this bitterly cold weekend. I kinda wish we had cable for this weekend to pop on a few Hallmark movies I'm sure they're on Netflix, too - DH will be sleeping all days and working nights, so it'll just be my own taste.
Joy - I am so guilty of always slinging the shovel forward to get the snow off. And then the next day - ugh. Fun post!
Skipped making any desserts to bring in to work for Valentine's day. Credit, somehow.
Great job for coming up with a new plan.
Thursday - Japan founded by Emperor Jimmu Tenno (660 BC)
