Coaches -

Not eaten very much yet today. I was having a little of my GI issue yesterday - taking a slight protein break to see if I can bring it back in control without massive carbs. I actually wasnt planning on eating lightly today, but I went out this morning to work in the garden before it got too hot, figuring I would eat when I got hungry and next thing I knew it was 2:00. Planted my pumpkins and watermelon and squash and cucumbers and pole beans and weeded out the blueberry bushes. Going to have to harvest all my rabe tonight even though it is underdeveloped because the sudden heat wave caused them to start blooming (yes I was freezing 2 days ago. That's Oregon spring, supposed to hit 90 tomorrow .

Had my normal size lunch and still feeling normal 5:30 pm hungry so I think I will mostly let the breakfast calories go for today. Maybe pick them up later this week if my energy is flagging.

Credit - weighed, made my end of May goal today. Have new shorts on order as my reward.

billblueeyes I do much better with no snacking also. Except maybe a small evening one. I like my meals a little larger than snacking allows for and I never feel satisfied when I am eating constantly

Lexxiss - yikes! Every time I think of owning rental I remember I can barely keep my own house working

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Walked, CREDIT moi, to class and later to an evening event where I learned that humans aren't smart enough to determine how smart animals are. One example cited was the research that showed that elephants aren't self-aware because they didn't recognize themselves in the mirror. A later researcher noted that the test was done with a small mirror. It was repeated with an elephant-sized mirror and the elephants, indeed, recognized themselves. Duh!

No snacks all day, CREDIT moi. Food was on-plan-ish. Dinner was constructed from the snacks at the evening event. Cheese, crackers, and strawberries hardly constitute a healthy diet, but chatting with friends was much fun and we watched some bees working their hive inside a museum with a duct leading outside. Yay for clever exhibit designers.


onebyone – Another farmers' market sounds like great opportunity along with much work. Congrats for going there.

Debbie (Lexxiss) – Yay for being able to rapidly repair an outed window frame.

millie56 - Super Kudos for ignoring the cookies being consumed in your presence. Water aerobics always looks like the most fun thing happening.

Karen (karenrn) - A Bearikade (Bear Vault) is a new concept for me. Congrats for finding a reasonable alternative to bears eating your food.

Sandy (love2garden) - Oh Yes, getting outside these days is such a treat. Glad that you had such good time with your DS.

ennay - Neat to postpone eating until hungry and then discovering it had become 2:00 o'clock. Some mighty fine eating you're planting there.

Readers -

Coaches

On plan today and I have a plan for today so credits there. The scale dropped 1.3 overnight so I am 265 once more. In fact I weigh what I weighed exactly one month ago to the day. Credit for not being heavier. I'll take this. I need to plan for the market tomorrow so I need to plan to pack food for myself. It will be a long rainy coldish day according to the weather forecast. That often drives the desire to eat so I need to be ready for when that hits. Credit for acknowledging reality.

Today I drop off my first commission of 2016: a portrait of The Weeknd on a recycled fire extinguisher. This is for the client's daughter who loves The Weeknd's music. I think he has a great name. Who doesn't love or look forward to the weekend? I've attached an image.

Billblueeyes: your mention of bees reminded me of a Canadian artist who works with bees to create artwork. A very interesting artist Aganetha Dyck.

Good Morning, Coaches.

Drat! lost my post when I clicked on onebyone's wonderful image. Oh Well. Worth seeing it.

Off to the formal interview for my high school English position. Principal has moved mountains to open up a position. I appreciate it. More tomorrow.

Wave to all.

Hi Coaches!

Time for a quick check in before I head to the project. We made great progress yesterday. I hope we can finish today. I would like one day to myself before my trip. It was nearing 830pm and we decided instead of placing the window we would put the plywood back on for the night. Pat was outside, I was inside. She needed help and instead of walking all the way around I negotiated climbing through the rough opening. Not an option at my high weight. It always makes me feel good to accomplish something new.

I'm drinking my smoothie now and have a plan for meals today. Credit.

ennay, my mom will be 95 this summer and she has 9 rentals, of which 3 are commercial. It's the residential that always have issues. I am the chosen one to take over the business so for now I get all the yucko projects. LOL

Good morning coaches,

Food was a little over calories yesterday and I really need to do something about it. Like I really need to get rigid, but I am having a hard time doing that. Maybe I am in the pre contemplative stage. I have a plan for today and heaven help me I hope to stick with it.

Just back from my Bell Pass hike with the backpack at 22 1/2 pounds. I think that's about enough for training hikes and wasn't bad at all. What was bad were that the little tiny bugs that are around when the Saguaro are in bloom were around on part of the trail and it was 85 degrees by the time I finished. I got to the trailhead at 5:45 a.m. Guess I need to go even earlier. And of course it will be getting even warmer, but I can at least hike before the sun comes over the ridge.

Lexxis You have a big job with those rentals, but sounds like eventually it will pay off. I'm sure your Mom is very appreciative of all the help you are.

Maryann The fact that your principal has moved mountains to open up the English position for you speaks mountains of how much he values your expertise. It's nice to be acknowledged.

Onebyone Thanks for sharing your artwork again.

Bill Bear canisters are a must in most of the Sierras and many other places too. Bears had become such a nuisance because they could easily get food. Now with the bear canisters, food storage at front county campsites and strict rules about no food or smelly things in cars even in the parking lots at Yosemite, the problem is getting better. I wanted to get the canister ordered in plenty of time to practice putting things in it to be sure I could choose calorie dense food and minimize other items.

Ennay I hope you're feeling better today.

Welcome back Millie56!

Sandy Glad to hear you had such a nice Mother's Day, time with your other son and lots of time outdoors.

Time to get a move on. Happy Friday the 13th to all of you!

Quick check in - struggling to stay OP ... finished work at 2 a.m. and tried to fall asleep but up at 6 to continue on another project. Another late night tonight and then a 4 a.m. airport drive on Sunday morning to head out of town for work. The time will come and go. I need to get into a better mindset and not a "I'm so stressed ... I need treats" headspace. I will hit the market on Sunday evening when I'm at the hotel and pick up some healthy options and most likely raisin bran and milk and use that for late dinners when needed. Or super early breakfasts when our day will start at 5 before the hotel breakfast bar. At ticker but just barely.

DH interviewed for a different company yesterday and is REALLY excited about this possibility. Other company is unethical, disrespectful and cutting corners to the point of oh, i don't know - illegality? DH just wants to return home after working and be proud of his efforts. Keeping fingers crossed that if it's to be good, then it works out. Will miss him and the pets...

credits today - weighed and logged,food plan good, if a bit one meal at a time. Got an iced tea instead of a diet coke when running errands.

nationalparker hope you get a break soon and good luck to dh for his job search

karenrn it sounds like you are planning a wonderful trip!

maryanngood luck with your job interview!

Diet Coaches/Buddies – On my way to a 100% day when I had an unnecessary afternoon snack because it was available and visible. Ouch. Otherwise a good food day. I had lunch with a bunch of friends where good conversation just kept on going. We were served a bagged lunch so digging in for more food wasn't possible. I like that kind of situation.

Walked hither and yon, CREDIT moi, including to my noon event. I went out in a short sleeved shirt with no jacket, no hat, and no umbrella. I just dared the weather. I won, because we had a light drizzle later in the afternoon after I was safely inside. At the supermarket blueberries from Georgia were $2.99 per dry pint. I grabbed three pints. I do believe in over-indulging in blueberries when they arrive in season. Next will be Florida blueberries, then New Jersey. I drool.


onebyone – Thanks for the introduction to The Weeknd and Aganetha Dyck. You remind me that there's more art out there than makes it to whatever museums I happen to visit. Kudos for preparing yourself against eating on a cold day.

Joy (gardenerjoy) – Waving. OK, more precisely: William Clark set out from Camp Dubois; Meriwether Lewis joined a few days later; Sacagawea joined up in November; President Thomas Jefferson called it the “Corps of Discovery.” <sigh>, my high school version of this was about as condensed as the title above.

Debbie (Lexxiss) – Yay for the new self climbing through the window.

maryann - Good luck at your interview.

nationalparker – When you're in your busy mode you're over the top. Here's hoping that you have time to breathe in the upcoming days. Kudos for planning alternatives to the hotel breakfast bar.

Karen (karenrn) - For those of us who don't live in the desert: Saguaro cactus in bloom. Welcome to the "pre contemplative stage" - in a little while I'll go think about what that means.

ennay - Kukos for making "one meal at a time" work.

Readers -

Good morning coaches,

I had a nice 5 mile walk with a friend this morning with an iced tea break for extra visiting time, credit. Then, since it is so warm today I didn't have to go to greeter duty from 10 to 12. I was glad since it would be uncomfortably warm standing there and likely not many hikers in that heat, or at least I hope not.

Our grocery store was being remodeled to make room for clothes and it was just a disaster for a few weeks; so much that I went to another store. I just went back to our regular store and it's all back together. I don't want to buy my clothes at the grocery store, but apparently it's a high margin item. The rest of the store is better now though with wider aisles. I've gone there for 10 or 11 years and I knew where everything was, it will take awhile to learn the new layout.

Dh is at the golf course practicing and I think we'll have some time in the pool this afternoon. We don't heat the pool but it is about 80 degrees which feels pretty good when it's warm out. I'll try to even out my hiker tan a little and of course we use sun screen.

I'm going to try to see if maybe a large vodka tonic with diet and tonic and lots of ice can replace my beer. I have never liked mixed drinks so doubtful I'll put much alcohol in it. I'm thinking I might be able to cut calories. I'll let you know.

Personals tomorrow.

Morning coaches!

After the heat wave yesterday we had a huge thunderstorm last night. Which I would say is really rare but is the second one this spring already. Wall shaking, sky lighting storm.

dh wants to go to indian for dinner tonight. I haven't decided if that is something I can manage or not. Indian food is very very hard for me to limit to a normal portion. And it is so rich that a normal portion is still hugely caloric. I have 400 extra calories to work with today so some heavy duty pre-planning is needed!

Still struggling to get my exercise in. I have not yet been able to reproduce the consistency from when I used to work out first thing in the morning and that is too painful now (literally painful, I have injuries that don't wake up well, I need to just move slowly for a couple hours or I really hurt). I get sidetracked when I have too long to think about it. Even when I was dedicated, if I didn't go first thing it was too easy to skip entirely.

I forgot a credit from yesterday - I have been consistently eating good food long enough that fruit is starting to taste extremely sweet to me.

karenrn I dont do mixed - sweet alcohol , but on the rocks or "and soda" works for me. I usually do on the rocks which doesnt save a lot of calories, but I find liquor doesnt trigger food cravings like beer can.

Coaches

Cold today with heavy wind and rain. Sometimes it poured rain. I saw my breath today. They are forecasting snow flurries tomorrow. The wind picked up the two 10x10 canopies across from us and tipped them upside down, the edge landing about a handspan away from all our ceramic goods on display on our tables. I watched it topple toward us and just put my hands up to my head waiting for the crash.and tinkle of pottery breaking. It didn't happen. It didn't happen cause we set our table further in than usual from the edge of the canopy to try to keep the rain off our goods. And that didn't work BTW. I was pouring water that was pooling in the bottom of cups and bowls out onto the grass.

If the cold and wet were not enough, when my canopy was being closed up I saw that one of the legs is bent. This is quite disastrous as I need my tent and that leg may.now collapse or break. I just realized when the canopy came at us it must have hit my canopy and crushed that bar. But two corners of two tents were flying at us plus the tent next door too. I wouldn't know who to blame for that. Their tent was pegged down but with those smooth L-shaped camping tent pegs not heavy duty stakes. It's upsetting even now as I write this.

And so. Did I eat over it? Yes. Two cookies at the market. Chicken fingers and fries with gravy at home. That's it. All other food was on plan. I could not stop myself from eating the cookies at the market. I chose them. I was primed to make bad choices when I saw a gain of 0.4 this morning. It just pissed me off. I had a bad attitude. I think I need to not weigh on market mornings. I am vulnerable emotionally then and the temptations at the market are very strong. I don't need to start the day feeling like a loser. For all of that I had no sales and my friend had one. She sold her tagine! So weird. We figured no one would buy the tagine but it had a better chance at the market than at the guild. It went to a handmade tagine collector! So odd. I was glad I was there to see it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tajine

Tomorrow we have snow in the forecast and a.BBQ scheduled with DH's cousins. Kind of potluck. I need to be on guard not to overeat. I have two people I look forward to seeing there so hopefully getting caught up will take my attention away from the food.

Thanks for reading.

Ugh onebyone sorry you had such a rough day. That sucks about your tent. We are supposed to have minimum 10 lb water jugs or sandbags tied to each post at our farmers market but every year we get someone who doesn't do it.

Coaches - I feel good about tonight, we compromised on PF Changs instead of Indian and I chose well and stayed with what I chose. I could have made good choices at Indian, but when I looked at it I didn't feel I could be SATISFIED and the temptation would have been too high. The waitress noted that I had cut each dish exactly in half when she was packing up. Only used about 150 of my bonus calories. I'm sure my weight will be up tomorrow as I had about 9000 mg of sodium though. dh ordered my favorite dish and I didn't taste it. I still don't trust myself to have "just one bite" Overall I would again estimate I did not eat about 1000 calories that I normally would have at a dinner out.

Had a nice walk in the rain this afternoon. I forgot how much I liked rain running.

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Walked home, CREDIT moi, from a Honda dealership where I made my first foray into replacing our old car. I hate car shopping as much as I hate shopping for clothes. The salesman was most intent on showing me the Bluetooth technology that would allow me to answer my cell phone while driving. He also stressed the quality of the radio. It's hard to get information about reliability and durability. I started at that dealership because I could take it in for servicing and walk home and back to pick it up.

I visited a friend during the sunny afternoon who showed me his electric meter running backward. He had installed solar panels on the flat portion of his roof. He says he gets electricity even on cloudy days. I'm jealous because our mansard roof doesn't have sufficient surface in one direction to add solar to our house. Eating at an evening party was good enough, CREDIT moi. There was opportunity to have three main dishes and I didn't.


onebyone – Thanks for the link to tagine since it's a new word for me. Ouch for getting attacked by flying tents poorly staked. I do hope you can attach a sister-rod to that pole with worm gear clamps and just keep moving.

Karen (karenrn) - Having a hard time getting into buying socks and zuccini at the same time, LOL. Yay for iced tea with a friend.

ennay - I liked thunderstorms as a kid when I was immortal and wasn't responsible for a house. Good luck working in that exercise.

Readers -

HI Coaches!

Busy times as I head back to work today and leave for my trip right after work on Tuesday. I'm working on breaking down tasks into small chunks. Credit for taking most of yesterday to help my mom with things and attending her annual miners dinner, which us "kids" dislike immensely. It was good. She got an award and I was there to share her glory. Drove her and took her home. Part, I will admit, is selfish. If she falls, my life changes drastically, and it seems easier to be "safe than sorry". Ate the meal, nothing more. Apple pie was boring. There was one leftover, however, and I brought it home for DH. I know I won't touch it. There is no reason for me to waste calories on something "not good". DH will devour it. BTW, on his Denmark trip with his MD cousin, she told him he needed to gain weight. She said if he were to get sick he would be in trouble with no extra weight to spare. Hmm. That will never be my problem. lOl

I keep track of my weight on paper these days. Even that daily task seems to help me stay on track. Food is ok. Weight is ok. Take care all!