Huzzah, Wood Nymph!

Well, as far as I can tell right now I am not getting the contract but I'm fine with that.

Feeling good today & did the 10,000 steps by 9:30 a.m., nice today, went to park & then came back to neighborhood to walk the streets here. Had a lot of conversations with self about things going on & feel better.

Good work on the shoveling. When I do weights I don't get many steps from that so I basically stopped logging it on the Fitbit site. But I need the weights, yoga & aerobics that I also add to get lateral steps, which the device doesn't record. But I love my Fitbit anyway lol.

Thinking of all the royals. Let's make it a great week.

Love the star system, Wood Nymph. Congrats on day 3, woot!

On iPad, was kind of up half the night fixing computer & downloading stuff.

Yea, Arabella, I live with uncertainty, too. T'is an occupational hazard, plus I am aging & could just sit back & not think about anything anymore but the desire to work is still there, most of the time. Lol, anyhow, I don't get upset much anymore. People sometimes think I am upset but sometimes I am remarkably blah.

Thinking about an experiment to give up wheat from the next weigh in to the Vernal Equinox. This is not a challenge; if I eat wheat, I just keep going. I do think there will be a pizza lunch next Tuesday so I will definitely eat the crust.

I will make it a St. Paddy's No Wheat Party.

If I do it. Haven't decided.

Got a lot of benefit out of the first full day of the no wheat experiment, huzzah! Decision made to continue and also some clarity came to me on how to reduce some joint stress and mental stress by reducing my official daily Fitbit step count to 8,000. I do weights, yoga and aerobics, too, plus the steps and since I had started to be overtrained and not feel well, I ended up skipping days of officially having a goal of 10,000 in favor of the more doable 8,000. I also intend to go back to work out of retirement at some point soon and honestly it takes just too much out of my day to do a consistent 10,000, but 8,000 will keep the activity intact until I decide to raise it back. May reduce it further.

Day 5 -- Three stars yesterday, b/c I didn't do yoga or meditate. I was very tired, but could have taken 10 minutes to lie in savasana to get both, so no excuse really.

Today, DH and I walked through the blizzard. Lots of extra calories burned trudging through snow. It was wild but kind-of gorgeous.

Amarantha, glad you got benefits from the first day.

Exercise is very time-consuming, is it not. Between walking and yoga, there's about 2.5 hours of my day, which puts some pressure on everything else and means I end up not doing impromptu other things or even other things in general very often. What with having to work and all.

Some people talk about their exercise time as their time for themselves. Maybe I can try to think of it a bit more like that.

Have a great weekend, all!

Huzzah, Arabella! Three stars is good, though.

You are doing great!

I like that idea of doing savasana and it is both yoga and meditation. Last year when I went through a rough patch I was taking a lot of new yoga classes at the gym. One was restorative yoga where we never left the floor and the assistant played bowls and they used a lot of oils and blankets and touching. It was quite heavenly but I got burned out on it anyhow because I was somewhat unhappy, I suppose. It should have helped but it didn't.

Then they started up a new hatha gong classes with the instructor playing the giant gong as we moved through pretty simple hatha work and then lay there at the end for gong meditation. There was also an hour a week of just gong meditation (yoga nidra with gong, I think they called it). I went to that once and it was glorious. But it all just took too much time and I somehow overtrained just lying there for the most part.

I should go back. The gong is pure heaven.

Not sure why but I always fight what helps me and yoga is one of those things.

Anyhow, yea, exercise does take a lot of time when one covers everything one needs to cover. Guess that is why I'm reducing the step goal. I want to do it all lol.

Doing well again with the wheat freedom. Cals a little higher today.

Have a great rest of the day, royals! Woot!

Just passin' through this mornin' to see if anyone is in the palace lol.

I am on day 37 of the backward no wheat day count to the Vernal Equinox and enjoying the trip, more or less. Had some rocky moments and have to realize that in reality, I have eaten wheat all my life and probably more wheat than any other food substance has been the food rock on which I stood since a babe in arms.

Anyhow, having fun and finding out a lot of things.

I have cancelled the red velvet cake ban as it is unlikely that a wheat free red velvet cake is ever going to present itself to me and I wouldn't eat it if it did, so now I'm just down to staying wheat free and counting calories & exercising as usual.

Woot! Feeling a physical & mental alchemy beginning to process itself through my sphere & an uplift in spirit that has not been present for some time. Sure & begorra, so much clarity is spinning around in my wee brain. Is it leprechauns? Or is it the wheat, or lack thereof?

Marching forward.

Congratulations on all the stars you are amassing, Arabella! They all count!

Thanks for sharing positive encouragement re the wheat free project that I sometimes call Wheatless Begorra lol because it is over three days after St. Paddy's Day!

I'm on Day 36, counting backwards, had some negative feedback about it in real life, not sure why, so do appreciate advice & good vibes.

In the final analysis, my body has the vote and my body and mood are having similar positive feelings as you describe. I've had some bad patches where I seemed to be "detoxing" from wheat and then I increasingly have a feeling of well being. Definitely some parameters are clicking in that I am either ascribing to a placebo effect or could it be NO WHEAT!

I know what you mean about the gluten free replacements for treats. I am not heavily into them and can't even imagine seeking a red velvet gluten free piece of cake. I have had moments of wanting something like bread and the first few days had a Van's wheat free waffle toasted with butter, then found a really nice gf raisin cinnamon bread and yesterday had one piece of that cold with butter. It was excellent but not really something I think I need long term.

For one thing, at the moment I am concerned with the rice flour in everything since there is a rice scare going on.

Another thing is I just don't believe I am going to need to really have exact substitutes. If I wanted sweet carbs, I could have a piece of dark chocolate.

Right now I am not focusing on gluten free, just on wheat free.

One bit of feedback that keeps popping up online among those who seem in the nutritional know is to have a blood test before going gluten free to, uh, see if you need to be gluten free.

I really don't see this as an issue for me because I am obviously not gluten intolerant and do not have celiac disease.

So I'm forging ahead at the moment and having fun with this.

In the meantime I had a massive amount of energy for weights today and did an hour, when honestly I've been down to the bare minimum for the past year.

So, we'll see.

Steps continue at 8,000 plus and I've decided that I have prescribed a RANGE of 8,000-10,000 and anything above that is gravy.

Wootness! Still waiting for some business things to click in and really, I'm not going to do anything much all day! Yay!

It is cold (37F) and still dark, even though we have passed First Light.

Thinking of all royals and shall fold tent and maybe go read for a while.

Renewed gym membership for another year. They have Zumba Gold for one class only. It is a gentler Zumba for seniors &/or inexperienced Zumba fans or people who just want a reduced level. I have done tons of Zumba but think the slower pace would feel good about now.

Day 35 on the no wheat & really liking it, making way better choices. Doing a little calorie challenge for rest if week, no higher than 1700 & will bring in some days lower than that, as had two high days already.

There is a lot to eat other than wheat.

Thinking of all royals, huzzah! Have a good one.

Ok, dokey, my little Royal 4-Day Personal Calorie Level Challenge Log:

Day 1, Wednesday, 1540
Day 2, Thursday, TBD
Day 3, Friday, TBD
Day 4, Saturday, TBD