Hi Coaches/Buddies!

The Qi Gong is miraculous!! It is even helping me with my arm pain. I am knitting again today ... Woohoo!

So far so good - stayed OP yesterday and did a long session of Qi Gong. Today there is a party for a friend who is retiring from teaching - food and drink, but I've no idea what exactly. Send me strengthening vibes, Beckies! I'll be zeroing in on fruit and veggies.

SuperChick - Kudos for establishing healthy patterns for yourself for the weekend! Surfing sounds amazing ... never tried it. One of these days ...

Debbie (Lexxiss) - Kudos for "simple mode" - best wishes as you deal with travel and your mom's health.

BillBE - Your consistency, as always, is amazing and inspiring!

CeeJay - good to hear from you Looks like you've got a great plan going there.

gardenerjoy - ouch on the aches - I can definitely relate - good attitude though! Keep up that qi gong ... I am starting to think it helps practically everything!

onebyone - Kudos for good restaurant choices!! It feels so great to stick with the plan and see the rewards. Brava!

Time to do my reading for the qi gong online course and drink some more lovely coffee. Ah, summer weekends. Wishing everyone a great one.

Erika



Read ARC: yes
Sat down to eat: yes
Gave myself credit: yes
Walking: no
Qi Gong: yes (40 min)

Last night we were eating at one of our favorite restaurants, at a window seating, and a sudden tropical t-storm hit. The lights went out (we had just been served our food) and torrential rain came down for about 15 minutes. It was "entertaining" to watch that I didn't eat 3/4ths my food (and gave to my DH). We went to the grocery store afterwards and I asked the man behind the fish counter if the lights went out there as well (since it was in the same strip mall) and he said he was pitch black for 5 minutes or so. This is a typical summer storm down here in the SE. At this rate, I will never have to water our garden again this month.

According to Wiki, Qi Gong is pronounced "chi (for the life force we have within us,commonly refering to our breathe) and kung (reference to its connection to the martial arts like kung fu). Expanding on that, here is the expanded definition: the Chinese philosophy and practice of aligning breathe, physical activity and awareness for mental, spiritual and corporeal health. There was a cross reference to "infering" that the Force spoke of in Star Wars is this same life force. Hmmmm???

I just discovered this past winter that tai chi also has aspects of both qi gong and martial arts. We have a local group that does their movements at our Atlanta Botanical Gardens. (that's just where they meet). One of the "demonstrations" from the tai chi Master ( a small petite woman) who "encouraged" spectators to come up to her and try to push her over. One by one, they all fell away, unable to budge the Master even though she seemed to be standing (serenely) like she was waiting for a bus to arrive. Again, this mind, body connection always fascinates us Westerners who seem to be always swimming upstream in life. I see the non-Western way as simply: "Go with the flow". It really is about coming into harmony with the space we occupy at any given moment.

I heard about it because I am always looking for ways to increase my movement and "work around" (or with?) my rheumatoid and osteo arthritis. Lee Holden has a dvd expressly for using Qi Gong for deep sleep. I am sure that I will get that one.

I hope everyone will have a great weekend.

Yes, it's a busy life. Onebyone, sorry I haven't got here to thank you for the uke.vids. We actually went to see the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain a few weeks ago and I think that's prompted this burst of playing by the DB. Good to hear other orchestras from around the world. They can be perfectly crazy!

to all. It's very heartening to read about how you beck through the different challenges in your lives.

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Picked a gorgeous head of Romaine Lettuce from our garden for part of dinner. Thought of an excuse to ride my bike when the rain broke, CREDIT moi. Was on plan all day, including skipping the temptation of DW's trail mix, CREDIT moi, until I was getting antsy for the late dinner and fell face first into some tree nuts - OUCH.

Nuts won't resolve renovation issues. Nuts won't reroute the new wiring to my taste. Nuts won't make the baseboard heating units fit tight to the wall. Nuts won't square the bathroom window. Nuts won't grow the door a half inch now that the leveled floor is lower. But they certainly scream to me that they'll do that and more. Arrrrrrrrrrrgh!


onebyone - Yeah, I just love that feeling, "I can't tell you how happy I am that I stuck to my plan." I'm jealous of your garage saleing.

Joy (gardenerjoy) – Ouch for "catastrophizing" - which certainly must be a word since you're a writer. I do that sometimes. Is there a technique for letting it go?

Erika (eusebius) - Kudos for continuing your Qi Gong regularly.

CeeJay - Yay for weekends! Did you fill up your previous food journal?

silverbirch - Waving back. Pondering if I'd be inclined to go to a performance of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain.

pamatga - Wonderful image of eating in the dark with a window view of a typically violent South Eastern thunder storm - the Agony and the Ecstasy.

Readers -

hey coaches, i'm a bit pushed for time so jsut a quickie - by accident i somehow ended up missing my lunch yesterday! I had about 9 hours between meals after a late breakfast - you were all totally right - it wasn't that much of a bit deal and as i was busy it didn't even really notice the hunger that much. Right, i'll update later when i have more time, have a good day everyone.

Hi Coaches!

Yesterday got wonky as my schedule changed which meant that food changed, too. *credit* for stopping some unplanned snacking and using a diversion technique of inviting friends out for a healthy dinner, since I was going to order takeout anyway. I was pretty low energy on my bike yesterday but got quite a few miles in as I rode all over town getting my errands done. Meals are planned for today and I think I have a good chance of sticking with the menu if I get my eggplant peeled and in the soaking water before church.

BillBlueEyes, ouch for tree nuts, but kudos for a nice list of credits during yet another frustrating reno day.

SuperChick, *credit* for doing your hunger experiment even if it was "by accident".

silverbirch,

Pam(pamatga), visualizing trying to portion out your food in the dark. Great accomplishment!

Erika(eusebius), yay for knitting again after persisting with Qi Gong! I hope your party was successful!

onebyone, yay for "right choices" at the Indian restaurant...and yay for simple plans.

gardenerjoy, good for you taking your aches one day at a time.

CeeJay, glad you have two days out of the craziness!

Ok, off to find that eggplant and do some tidying up while I have a few minutes.

Thunderstorms rolled in at bedtime which wasn't conducive to sleep. But I won't need to water my garden today!

Woke up without the aches this morning, so looks like my weather front theory was correct. I can live with that. I always kind of liked the archetypal old lady who can predict weather with her bones.

WI: NAkgs, Exercise: +60 1060/1300 minutes for June, Food: 70%op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

onebyone: Good job following your plan at the Indian restaurant!

eusebius: so glad the Qi Gong is helping. Hope the event went well -- zeroing in on fruits and veggies is a strategy that works for me.

pamatga: sounds like you have been experiencing dramatic storms, too.

silverbirch: I'm reading Watching the English by Kate Fox and thought of you when she talked about supper vs dinner vs lunch. An English-American friend of mine lent me the book when I confessed to Anglophilism. It's laugh out loud funny, which is pretty amazing since it's written by an anthropologist.

BillBlueEyes: I cured my catastrophizing yesterday with "cut it out." Which is the same as "No choice." That works when the alternative is shading toward hypochondria because I desperately don't want to be that person. Distraction has worked in the past for me when will power wasn't enough. But I could use more tools in that shed.

SuperChick: yay for the accidental hunger experiment and for learning exactly what it's supposed to teach. The hunger experiment is what makes "Hunger is not an emergency" so powerful for me.

Lexxiss: good job coping with a day that defied planning and getting right back on track today.

Good morning everyone:

Amazing how good just one day on plan can feel. That feeling of regaining some control is great. Here is how the weekend plan is going:

- do resistance bands today done
- ride exercise bike 30 minutes both days Sat. done,Sun. done
- make eating plan for week done
- cook up some food for the week done
- check in with my coaches Sat. done, Sun done
- weigh in Sat. done, Sun done
- read advantage and response cards both days Sat. done, Sun. done
- start a new food journal done
- eat healthy and on plan both days Sat. done, Sun done
- drink lots of water both days Sat done, Sun done
- go to bed at 10:00 both nights (so hard for me) Sat- nope Sun I am determined to do it

Here's to a healthy, happy Sunday!!

Hi Coaches

Sunday today. I got a call from an Ottawa friend who's nearby visiting her dad and will come to visit me tomorrow.

yay.

Weighed in today: 281.7 (+1.5). The culprit is salt. Salty processed meat and cheese. Not enough water to wash it away. I already had the leftovers of the salty dish so I can't expect tomorrow to be better but I will do my best.

I'm going to do some Wii Sports Resort games until I break a sweat, which doesn't take too long for me these days, and then I am curling up watching movies. Not too ambitious today.

I sent off an email giving up my downtown artist studio. As much as I love the *idea* of being downtown and being an urban vs. suburban (blech) artist, I can't live with how bad I feel for taking $ from the budget when I am not bringing any money in, and when we are constantly behind in everything. It's just driving me crazy. I also feel bad because I am just not getting there. Everyone I meet around here who asks where my studio is immediately says "OMG that's so far! That's way too far." Well, in comparison to Ottawa its as far as I used to go to get to my mom's but the level of people and traffic and stress is 3x what it was in Ottawa. I'm not used to it because I haven't done it enough...etc.
Anyway, I just to know it's not forever. And it's not. Toronto is not Ottawa. There are studio spaces in the city all the time.

That's my tale for today. Have a good Sunday.

Evening all. I had an super busy weekend, as usual. I managed to stay mainly on plan but due to lack of time, i neglected to write down what i ate, didn't read my ARC, didn't drink as much water as in the week... i am aware that if it'd had a bit of an emotional week this could quite easily have derailed me so during the week i'm going to work out how to incorporate Beck into my life at the weekends better - Ceejay, i like your idea of making a weekend plan. So credit for mainly staying on plan although i drank a glass of red wine more than i really should at a bBQ on saturday night, and credit for a mammoth mountain bike ride today with a friend. Even though i didn't manage to do my beck tasks as i should it was always in my mind and i tried to eat mindfully.

Silverbirch - i wasn't aware we had a specialist Ukelele orchestra here in the UK!

right, i am off to meal plan / make a shopping list

Superchick - nor me till recently. You live and learn! BTW, v impressive surfing in the North Sea. Credit for that, definitely.

Superchick: Your description of the week agrees with my thinking which is "progress not perfection." Another way of saying that is don't sacrifice the better for the best. The longer I have worked the Beck program, the narrower the road becomes and I am more able to think about improving my choices in order to continue my weight loss. The expectations I had on myself when I first started were actually a lot more forgiving than now - simply because it was easier to lose weight because I had more to lose. Having said that, if I hadn't practice being gentle with myself I would never had stayed on the program this long. My path to healthy eating is a long race - really the race of my lifetime there needs to be a balance between improvement and acceptance.


As for me, fabulously OP - the cafeteria has proven to be freeing ( surprise, surprise) because of the healthy vegitarian and vegan options ( tons of veggies) and because I don't plan my food right now. All I write in my journal is "meat/ veggies, meat veggies." There is no food in btween and I am in classes so I couldn't eat it if there was. I also credit myself with a Resounding "No choice" in a voice I have never had before. Will it last? It has for today. Credit taking time out of lots of homework assignments to walk the hills of Vermont. I miss DS and DH but they are there for me when I return.

Hello to everyone else: credit for all the distraction techniques. BBE: In literary terms the nuts are acting as your antagonist.

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Two big meals yesterday - Ouch - even though I restrained myself both were large meals. The gods who organize my social life need to work harder at spreading out food situations.

Exercise was scrubbing the dis-assembled pieces of the baseboard heating system; CREDIT moi a little bit at least because that's what had to be done. Apparently, we're not Martha Stewart enough to be taking them apart for scrubbing weekly because they became much lighter in color. Even so, I suspect this will be a twenty year event. They grow dimmer very slowly and my eyesight grows dimmer anyway, LOL.


onebyone - Ouch for the loss of the studio, with Kudos for keeping your perspective that new opportunities will arise.

Joy (gardenerjoy) – Yay for rain for your garden, but I suspect that Georgia has us all beat when it comes to violent thunder storms. [Thanks for the reminder that NO CHOICE can be used for non-food situations.]

CeeJay - Kudos for attending your plan for the weekend. May your week go as well.

Debbie (Lexxiss) - Neat strategy to stop unplanned snacking by inviting friends out for a healthy meal; Kudos.

sliverbirch - Waving back - toward a tiny Blackberry screen on a moving train somewhere.

maryann - Kudos for turning the cafeteria abundance into the option to choose wisely on plan rather than the option to overeat. [Yep, nuts are my antagonist; perhaps I can think myself the author of my life and script the hero, moi, to overcome the antagonist and ride into the sunset with the fair maiden.]

SuperChick - What a perfect way to do the hunger exercise - get all the benefits without undue suffering in advance worrying about it. Kudos for passing that milestone. And Yay for "a mammoth mountain bike ride." Do you live in a flat or hilly area?

Readers -

Bill - you mind-reader! I'm on a train and I'm on my BlackBerry. Food packed (rather a lot of raw veg are involved) till mid-afternoon and then I have to hunt & gather in London. I have an outline plan but things may change. Staying with friends tonight. I'm glad I don't drink any more: I feel so much better in the mornings after sleeping on their floor.

Maryann: I am trying really hard to not take the extreme route (again!) – most of my teenage and adult life I’ve been haunted by either labelling foods as good or bad and all of the guilt that goes with it, or eating extremely healthily (or just extremely, really!) and over exercising. I think part of the reason I put so much weight back on is that I was rebelling against the whole idea (slightly childish for someone in their late twenties) but it’s got me to the point at which I am now – I need to put myself first, be kind to myself (which, I’ve realised, doesn’t mean drowning in chocolate!) and find a way to eat that fits in with my lifestyle. I can’t stand to be obsessed with food anymore! I think that is why using the behavioural techniques of Beck and the hypnosis / eating plan I’m using (adore yourself slim – a lesser known diet / self-help book by a British author) will hopefully will hopefully make this time different – I refuse to bully myself into losing weight again – it obviously didn’t work last time!

Phew. I like ‘there needs to be a balance between improvement and acceptance’. Nicely put

BBE: I live in a relatively hilly area I guess, I was definitely going uphill, that is for sure! I think it was about a 10km loop up (and down – the best part!) two hills (maximum 140m elevation difference from the start I guess…there was a lot of huffing and puffing going on!)

So far today so good, managed to do my food shopping in my lunch hour and I have my next two days meal’s planned and a rough outline menu for the week.

So, tomorrow is my first ‘proper’ weigh-in after week 1 – I have no scales in the house to avoid scale-obsession so I will be off to the pharmacy before work in the morning to use theirs. I feel so much better regardless of what the scales say – I feel good for just eating healthily and trying to tackle some of my food issues.

Have a good Monday all, and I’ll let you know how I get on tomorrow