YEAY I'm back! Boy oh boy did I learn how much I need the support of my chicks up for a challenge while I was gone. I went away on vacation for a few weeks, during which I ate desserts and potatoes like a gleeful fiend. It was a wonderful, restorative vaction, but I want to get back to healthier choices and better habits now that I've returned home.
Therefore, I'm back to my no sweets, no spuds challenge. Three pause days. Yesterday was Day 1.
Day 1 -- Sunday, August 30: No sweets, no spuds. I actually felt relieved to get back to my pre-vacation self who could pass by the dessert table at the buffet we frequent on Sundays.
Hard Working Dog, Gardener, Magistra, Obsidian, and everyone else, I missed you!
I think I'm ready to start again. But I'm going to change my challenge. I'm finding that I can easily fall back into bad habits. I want to do some stretching in the morning. It gives me energy for the day. I was doing very well with that and then I had a week that I was really busy and I let everything go. So, I'm starting over.
Stretching in the morning for 21 days, with 3 pause days.
Dr. Geri You wrote the truth. I also need the group support.
New Challenge:
30 minutes aerobic for next 21 with 3 pause days
1. August 30 pedometer well above 5,000 with all the walking today.
2. Aug 31 almost 5,000 steps then
- - - Broken tooth pulled and implant for new crown before Christmas.
- - - Forced in activity for 3 days to prevent excess bleeding.
- - - Pain killers have me fighting sleep and bit dizzy. Be back Thursday.
Sandy, you have the most resilient attitude through all the health complications you get thrown! Hang in there through this dental emergency, sometimes you've got to take care of something else on your body before you can do your steps.
Magistra, I love that we will be on roughly the same challenge schedule this time around. Streeeeeetch!
Day 3 -- Tuesday, September 1: No sweets, no spuds
Day 4 -- Wednesday, September 2: No sweets, no spuds. I am trying to recover from my profligate vacation eating by drinking a spinach smoothie every day. I don't know if I've dropped any pounds, but I certainly feel more proud of my eating choices.
1. August 30 pedometer well above 5,000 with all the walking today.
2. Aug 31 almost 5,000 steps then
- - - Broken tooth pulled and implant for new crown before Christmas.
Thank goodness we go out to supper for my favorite Red Curry Chicken tonight. OUr date night.
Dr. Geri Surely a spinach smoothie would help you recover energy and give you a great start forward.
Mag How are you doing?
Diane Howdy if you just check in, we realize it isn't likely.
If nothing else, I'm certainly AWARE of my need to exercise and with Gym membership expired, working outside in the garden will give me the strength and movement I need. Believe me, digging up Day ilies from mostly hard baked clay soil takes lots of strength. So pleased I still can do that and dig into another root filled area to plant these plants.
Neighbor cut down her 2 tall trees near the West side of our land. Area was mostly Hosta's and ferns on my side enjoying the shade. No shade left now.
Pause Day 1--Friday, September 4: I do not make good food choices when traveling. Had a great road trip to kick off the holiday weekend, though!
Day 6--Saturday, September 5: No sweets, no spuds.
I'm so sorry to hear about your shade plants, Gardener. Hostas are beautiful and ferns are so interesting. If they do not survive the sunlight, you can continue your workouts replacing them with different plants.
Day 8--Monday, September 7: No sweets, no spuds. I am constructing souvenir books from the photos of my recent vacation. Despite the fact that the pictures depict awesomely happy memories, I'm feeling low because they also force me to see the truth of my size.
I do not want to hate my body. Hating it has never led it to be any slimmer. Every single other person in this culture including friends, family, and media sends me the message explicitly or implicitly that my body is unacceptable. I want to be for myself the one person who stands up with love and acceptance against that constant barrage of hatred and judgment.
But I also want it to be different. I would like my body to be lighter for the sake of energy and endurance, health and longevity, and vanity and fashion. My problem is that although I am doing pretty well with "no sweets, no spuds," these vacation pictures have made it crystal clear it's not enough.
Yet I am wholly resistant and unwilling to do what it would really take: consistent exercise, portion control, cooking at home instead of eating out so often, getting back on the meds to treat my PCOS, and healing the emotional trauma I'm unconsciously using overeating to cope with. I have done relatively well with the challenges in this thread because they allow me to focus on just one thing that I know is hard for me but doable. Those other things just seem insurmountable.
Well . . . once again I'm not doing my challenge. I'm struggling with everything right now, eating right, exercising, etc. Basically, the start up of school has moved my focus away from my health and onto my students. I am striving for balance, but it's not quite there. I'm going to give it some serious thought this week. I have to get my head in the right place because if I don't, my work will take over my body. LOL!
Dr Geri I read your post and I want you to know you are not alone. It's not easy to love your body when everything in our culture screams BE THIN! But you do have beauty. Pictures do not tell everything. I think we are sometimes our own worst critics. When we look at ourselves we see our own imperfections. But we are human so we are imperfect beings and it's okay to accept that. When we accept that we are imperfect, that is a sort of healing. Our imperfections are what make us unique and that uniqueness is beautiful. IMHO
Day 13--Sunday, September 13: No sweets, no spuds
Day 14--Monday, September 14: No sweets, no spuds
Welcome, Amby! Wishing you much success on your challenge. How many pause days have you allotted yourself (an explanation of how pause days work is in the very first post of this thread)? We are here to support you on your lower-carb quest.
