I’ve got to make a plan for the 3:00-ish time. I am so exhausted and so hungry once the kids leave, until whenever I gobble down my dinner 2-3 hours later. A serving of nuts or protein doesn’t make a dent—fruit certainly wouldn’t cover it, either. Gotta put together a reasonably sized but nourishing afternoon snack to keep me going. Other than that, on plan, with food left over.
We have a large group of kids who wait in the Kinder hallway for a late bus. For three years it has been horribly loud and wild in this hallway, with little supervision by the assigned adult. I got sick of it the other day and gave a Skittle to each kid who was reading or doing homework…about three. The kids got the idea and some sat down, got quiet, and pulled out a book or homework folder. I promised them a ‘really good’ treat the next day if they were already doing homework when I got back from dropping off my kids. Hence the candy DH picked up for me. That was for yesterday, and I showered Nestle’s Crunch on kids doing well. Today I came down the hall with a gigantic bag of Smarties: fully half of the kids were on their knees, working on their homework on the floor, or sharing a book and reading out loud together. Others scrambled to find something, ANYTHING! that could look like homework or reading. It was really cute, and quite inspiring. I told the (ineffective) adult she owed me big time, and that she was buying the next bag of candy.
Diet Coaches/Buddies – Dinner was potluck for my nature oriented book club. CREDIT moi for modest servings. Ouch for nibbling on the cookies left on the table for the discussion period.
Found an excuse to use my electric car even though it wasn't necessary. I just like driving it. And I like watching that I can charge it to think it can do 113 miles! It can't, and it slowly realizes its true range as I drive. The first two miles of driving reduced the predicted miles remaining to 100. Apparently, it's difficult to psyche out what the battery can do. So much fun to watch.
onebyone – So the teacher insists on her own philosophy of art and teaching - sounds a bit dogmatic. Kudos for continuing to work your food plan.
Joy (gardenerjoy) – Congrats for reworking your plan after thinking about its implementation.
Nature Girl – Just amazing what a kid will do for one Skittle. LOL at such young kids figuring out how to game the system to look like they were doing homework.
Readers -
Quote:
Chapter 8 Holiday Traps
#1: Escape the YOLO Trap . . .
If you're tempted to go to a holiday party and just "not think" about healthy eating, remind yourself that there's no such thing as not thinking about it. Either you're going to think about it now, make healthy choices, and feel god when the party is over, or you're going to think about it later - and feel bad.
Remind yourself that it's not all or nothing. It's not a choice between eating every treat you want or not getting any treats at all. Look for the middle ground between these two extremes.
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. 154
Snacks were better but that was largely because my planned lunch was too generous. I've got a bit work goal today so I need to simplify my food -- good choices, but not the best ones. I want to make that very clear to myself so that I follow the plan as written and not convince myself that it's no use. Better choices are better than bad ones. I can do this.
Weigh-in: NA
Exercise: +45, 735/1100 minutes for September
Food: 80% on-plan
Read my Advantages and Responses: yes
Refrained from eating in the car: yes
I keep starting notes and getting sidetracked, so will just post speedily here. OP still and starting to feel the pull for a few treats, but not overwhelming. So far, no choice. It's ads that get me thinking about them...mmmm...chocolate. I am not one who believes I need to give in and get it off my mind. I'll rely on the Beck reinforcing my resistance muscle. This weekend I think we're going to enjoy a meal at our pizza place and then right back on program - we're figuring one meal with just two items not on the meal plan, is doable and enjoyable. I'm really REALLY looking forward to that - a nice break in the cooking, too. I suggested we go for their happy hour, which has tiny 4" pizzas and we could get what we want and basically no leftovers, even if we get 3 between us. Will see if DH wants to go that early or not.
165.2 on the scale and hope I'll get to the 164.x that was my goal coming into the week. Dinner tonight is a tuna salad with cukes, onions, lemon and mustard from a cookbook, all on salad. I don't care for it much ... but will be okay with that as our quicker Thursday dinner if it continues to help move the scale a bit down. I don't like any fish at all...but can choke this down. After I wash off much of the flavor. And probably all the healthy stuff...??
Landlord is having a surprise home inspection of his property ie. my apartment + the other ones tomorrow at 5. It's being done by a home appraiser. He's either looking to refinance or to sell. My area is hot hot hot with houses still selling for "over asking" and within a week. Our neighbourhood now has 3 monster houses with two more being built. He's going to sell soon I can feel it and that means we are on the street. DH who is moving phobic told me he talked to his friend about where they just moved to and gave me facts and figures (too expensive!) and I reminded him of the coop housing where we can move and only pay a few hundred more for 3x the space. All of a sudden, he heard me. This is my chance to make it happen.
More food today than I have had in a while. It's ok. It's the right kind of food so that's fine. I'm doing good!
I talked myself into substituting a tiny pile of chocolate chips for my 1 oz dark chocolate last night. Probably not a huge difference in calories, but certainly one foot on the proverbial slippery slope. On track today, except grabbed a bunch of nuts instead of counting. Only one handful, though. And still food left over.
Massage tonight and he went over all the tender spots in both legs from wearing the boot and walking crooked because of it. Felt good, afterwards.
More kids reading today – tomorrow I’m going to make ‘em wait until almost time to get on the bus before they get their loot – see if they can sustain their excellent behavior.
Diet Coaches/Buddies – At lunch with friends, I ordered blackened cod with salad instead of fried onion rings. I love, love, love fried onion rings. CREDIT moi for leaving them, with their huge wad of oil, behind. I have friends who can remember details from 50 years ago. Don't know if that's good or bad, LOL.
Walked, CREDIT moi, included stops at the barber and the pharmacy. The pharmacy now enforces a rule that they have to charge you 10 cents for a plastic bag. So, instead of just forcing an unneeded bag, they have to ask so that you can say that the item that comes in its own bag will do just fine. Before, we just accumulated piles of plastic bags. Sometimes regulations help.
onebyone – Ouch for a "home inspection" - like a locker inspection in middle school. Allowing someone to inspect a place because they're interested in buying is a fair request. Hope your notion of coop housing works out. Kudos for the right kind of food.
Joy (gardenerjoy) – Yep, it's a real victory to make better choices rather than just quit.
Nature Girl – Kudos for taking care of yourself with a massage.
nationalparker – Most likely extra washing of tuna just removes the added salt. Kudos for continuing to stick to your plan.
Readers -
Quote:
Chapter 8 Holiday Traps
#2: The Wall-to-wall Treats Trap
You can't avoid the holiday foods in the office kitchen.
Deanna told me that another big challenge during the holiday involved the treats in her office. "It's a kind of ridiculous how much food there is at work - like baked good in the kitchen and candy on the other secretaries' desks. Not to mention the baskets of goodies that vendors deliver almost every day." She sounded almost indignant. "It's just everywhere! I try really hard to resist, but it just gets the best of me sometimes."
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. 154
Along with Gardenerjoy, I struggle with snacks. I tell myself "no dinner" to compensate, then I sneak back into the kitchen several times for bites. I have been here before. I need to sit and eat meals by a plan. Naturegirl: Greek yogurt gets me to home. Then best thing for me to do is exercise right after school. I should walk home (school is 3 miles away) but with all the craziness, I have been unwilling to make a plan.
I fly to a funeral through Monday night. Until then I will continue to do what is working:
meal replacement for breakfast, bring lunch, salad sometime.
I have unfortunately slipped back into a diet soda a day. Oh well. First things first which is a walk.
Reached my goal for this weekend ... weighed in at 164.6 this morning! Down 10.2 on this plan so far. The FMD has two snacks every day and there are requirements of what food groups the snacks must be and we've not swapped one out yet. Today the snacks are healthy fats/veg (one in morning and one p.m. even if not hungry to keep the metabolism cranking) so I've got some raw cashews and carrot sticks for one snack and the other will be bell pepper and hummus. Other options are olives, guac, etc. We still check the food plan for reminders - Mon/Tues - it's a piece of fruit or a cup of fruit ... Wed/Thurs it's protein - deli meat without nitrites or the like ... To me, it's amazing that before when I was more fluid with snacks, maybe I'll have one, maybe I won't, I struggled so much with wanting more, wanting something else ... but now, no.
Someone at work asked more about the plan - was it easy? I said in all honesty, no, it's not easy on the prep but it's easy on the intake. So much of my formerly free time is taken up with meal planning, marketing lists, marketing at a few places, looking for odd items that we've decided we're sticking with this long enough, so go ahead and "invest" in that oddball ingredient since we'll use it a good deal, etc. But I also feel that the outcome has been worth it so far. My BP yesterday was 101/66 and DH is down almost 24 pounds. Last night for the theater performance, he put on a pair of Dockers that were two sizes two small last month. They looked great - no pulling, etc. I think that was a great boost for his mind, too. Thanks for letting me get that out - it was swirling in my mind all morning on the drive in... I resented a bit of the time suck - where do my 24 hours a day GO? Or more accurately, what am I wasting? I enjoy the evening things we've done this week (The Three Musketeers performance was superb last night), but I want to allot more journal time and DO IT.
We're going to enjoy our little pizza spot tomorrow - DH agreed to go for Happy Hour (3-6) and we can each get the 4" pizza of our choice. It's about as big as your hand for $2.50 ... a wonderful treat with no leftovers. Also a cheap night with just a salad for each added to it. I'm greedy now and think, hmm... let's each get the one we want and then get a plain cheese one to share... I'll ask but if DH thinks not, I'll agree. My eyes are greedy right now for more and more pizza.
Bill - MANY many credits for bypassing the fried onion rings. I love them. LOVE THEM. We have a dive drive in here that sells them and we'll get them maybe every 18 months or so. One serving serves two and we usually throw a few out. You've got me thinking about them! haha ... There is little else on their menu that I eat, so last time I said I just wanted the onion rings - no grilled cheese, no pork tenderloin, etc. and savored the heck outta them.
OneByOne - Co-op housing sounds like a great plan - hopefully it all works out to the best. This could be a good opportunity to clear out a lot and start fresh, too!
Snacks went weird again, sigh. An unexpected feeling of entitlement at the end of a long day. This sometimes works: I'm entitled to a healthy body and I get it by making healthy food choices.
Today is another big work day, but hopefully I meet my goal and can put this project behind me. A different gig (both of these are volunteer projects) has a bunch of drama related to it right now. I'm finding that harder to take. I'd rather work on a giant project that consumes all of my time than deal with drama.
I have a good plan for today, now the trick is to simply follow it. Reminding myself that it's a good plan is helpful. I even, finally, get to have my best on-plan lunch because I have the ingredients and the time to fix it.
Weigh-in: NA
Exercise: +35, 770/1100 minutes for September
Food: 70% on-plan
Read my Advantages and Responses: yes
Refrained from eating in the car: yes
nationalparker: thanks for the reminder about time spent doing healthy food prep. I get resentful, too, but when I really think about it, these are activities that I find reasonably pleasant. It may take 30 hours a week for me to have a healthy lifestyle, including exercise, shopping, meal prep and cleaning, and eating. But a good many of those hours get used in an unhealthy lifestyle, too. So, what if it's 15 hours extra a week? That's a lot, but if it guarantees that I have a healthy weight and the activities are reasonably pleasant, then it's a good deal.
GardenerJoy - Great reminder right back to me - the time is well-spent. You're exactly right- the time moves along whether we're using it in healthy or unhealthy pursuits.My sister reminded me about podcasts - I don't listen to any - I tend to listen to NPR or an audiobook. But I thought, maybe podcasts while working in the kitchen would be a good option. Like you, I don't mind it. I think I would much more enjoy it when I retire and am not rushing to finish to get to bed after a late dinner on a worknight. But that's a long ways off and make it something fun now. If DH is working alongside me, that's good, too. At least I think so haha.
I realized I'm taking twice as many nuts on this food plan than I ever would before - they must be raw, but nice to have no guilt in any of the foods now - and no calorie counting. If we can keep this going 80% for life, I'm good with that. I say that now...
Hi all, lots of familiar faces. I am back. Quick recap - got to goal or close enough and maintained for about a year after that. (CREDIT!) Then...things went sideways at work and I am regaining lots. So I went back to the beginning, restarting from Day 1. I'm currently on Day 4, give yourself credit day. I am posting because it is Friday which is a really hard day and need some planning and accountability. My plan is to eat only dinner (I already ate breakfast and lunch). I will drink a La Croix if I need some mouth entertainment. And I will only eat one physical plate of food at dinner. Another credit is that I have kept up with the exercise even though eating has derailed and I have gained and am gaining. I am fitter than before I found Beck so go me.
I would like all of you long time posters to give yourself credit for your regular and persistent posting.
Saturday - F. Scott Fitzgerald born (St. Paul, Minn, 1896)
Diet Coaches/Buddies – No blueberries to be purchased. None. We are left with a few pints from buying too much last week. By now, you'd think I would have developed a rational response to the changing of the seasons. Perhaps when I grow up, LOL. CREDIT moi for posting (thanks flnu).
Today's task is to make the kitchen faucet quit leaking. DW HATES wasted water. The Kohler site calls it a 10 minute job. Brushing my teeth is the only 10 minute job that I do. We'll see.
onebyone – Always Kudos for "ate on plan."
Joy (gardenerjoy) – Drama is tough at a paid job - really tough when volunteering. Kudos for hanging in there.
maryann - No snacks is a challenge when there's stuff visible in the kitchen. Keep the faith.
nationalparker – Those small pizzas sound like a good deal for the money and a good deal for satisfying the desire without facing the choice of having more slices than needed.
flnu - Congrats for that year of maintaining. Starting from the beginning works well with Beck's strategies.
Readers -
Quote:
Chapter 8 Holiday Traps
#2: The Wall-to-wall Treats Trap
I asked Deanna when it was hardest to resist. "Around three or four in the afternoon," she said. "That's when I get hungry and draggy and tired. When it's not holiday time, I just eat a piece of fruit. But there's less food in the kitchen then, of course. It's so much harder during the holidays. I frequently end up having the fruit and at least one treat."
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. 155
I don't know if I have ever been so thankful for a Saturday. I took no school work home and expect nothing of myself except a visit to the gym for bike and pilates. That's it. We can eat from the pantry. I fly out to Claremont, CA for the funeral tomorrow morning.
Credit (as FLNU mentions) for posting and for almost a completely tracked day. I actually had a dinner and ate it sitting down. Then I left the boys their dinner and took a walk. DS is running cross country now and is hungry. Not one bite of food left when I got home which meant I didn't snack in the evening. Yeah! Now I would like to figure out how to eat with the boys and not snack with clean up. Eating a piece of gum while cleaning might work. I'll try it tonite.
BBE: Thanks for the excerpt on the magic 3:00 hour which makes people go snack crazy. I am going to plan an activity then.
I will also get back to my tried and true "looking at the clock". I note the time andbet myself whether I will be hungry in twenty minutes.It often works.
It is nut season. Five truck loads sent to the dryer. Fall comes not matter what. Just like dinner time.
Thursday - Autumnal Equinox
