Food OP yesterday Planned exercise was scraping and painting. Spontaneous exercise was a hop on the bike to the library (2 blocks) which turned into a leisurely ride up and down the streets in our small town (3 blocks wide, 3 miles long). It's lilac time and the afternoon was warm. The scent just filled every breath of air I could find. I felt gratitude for the opportunity and gave myself kudos for having the mindfulness to "just do it". This morning I used the 15 minute plan to plow through a dining room bureau which was a catch all. It's now sorted, organized, relocated or pitched.
BillBlueEyes, sending you supportive thoughts as you had an "only OK" day with food. I'm with 'ya as I continue to shift from restricting to "restricting a tad more."
pamatga, yay for 3 consecutive nights of sleep! *credit* for a "plan that is falling into place."
CeeJay, yay for getting back into the swing of things.
pamatga, that sounds like a wonderful birthday tradition. I try to cook breakfast in bed for my kids on their birthdays, and we celebrate "half birthdays" with a treasure hunt.
I'd just skip over the soy meat replacements and go straight to vegan and vegetarian cookbooks. The library probably has tons and there are many that are "easy" or "easy and low calorie" type cookbooks. Tofu and beans can be made into a zillion wonderful delicious recipes, but a soy "hamburger" will never taste like a hamburger to you. I do use those products in small amounts, though. I have a good cassoulet recipe that uses 2 soy sausages, for example. But processed soy isn't all that good for you.
Checkin. I am at the County Library. My computer is on life support. No decision whether to pull the plug. Second Day OP - up-ping the juice and sticking to goal of 210 mins of exercise a week. I have relooked at The Zone. Much that is not Zone had crept into my diet. I realize when I stick strictly to the program I am just not hungry.
Happy to be on summer vaca and excited about Goddard in three weeks although that nasty little voice which says "You can't do this." needs to be quieted.
More tomorrow. Best to all.
Diet Coaches/Buddies - It was a good food day, CREDIT moi. Left over dahl (lentils) on the patio for dinner. No extraneous food offered so I didn't have to decline. Walked (CREDIT moi) to get broccoli for dinner and was absolutely shocked to find a small store selling it for $2.69 a pound - WOW! Found if for only $1.69 a pound elsewhere.
Debbie (Lexxiss) - Yay for the smell of lilacs in the air.
maryann - Ouch for a sickly computer. Don't you grad student types need a new quality laptop with a zillion bytes of RAM and a huge hard drive? Ambitious goal of 210 minutes of exercise a week - Kudos for making that commitment.
Susan (wife2abadge) - Love the "half birthdays" celebration. The first time I did that with one of my kids, I bought a half cake and had the inscription on top written as if it had been cut in half, including only the first half of their name. They loved it.
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 3 Get Ready to Lose
Before you start, however, I would like you to do the following 10 essential tasks. task 10 Make Response Cards
Below are three sabotaging thoughts that most dieters have. I would like you to create the corresponding Response Cards so that you will have them on hand once you start Phase I.
sabotaging thought:
It isn't fair. Other people eat whatever they want.
Please make the following Response Card to address this issue.
When dieting seems unfair, remind myself that
I'm not alone. This is how all successful dieters and
maintainers eat. I have a choice. I can let a sense
of unfairness overwhelm me, cheat on my diet,
and gain weight. Or I can accept that this is what I
have to do if I want all of the benefits of permanent
weight loss.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D, The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), pg 46.
Yesterday was a successful Beck day. I need to remember how effective it is for me to have my weekly meals all planned. Despite a time crunch I pedaled my bike through the lilac laced streets to the PO. *credit* It's the only exercise I got. Painting, Beck style, today. Yay!
BillBlueEyes, dahl on the patio sounds just perfect!
maryann, great that you revisited your Zone foods. It's so much easier when you aren't feeling that physical hunger.
Susan(wife2abadge), I've been checking out lots of library books as we have transitioned to vegetarian fare.
Credit for: sleeping multiple nights in a row, bed by 10 p.m. and up between 5 a.m.-7 a.m. I can not tell you how the world looks so differently when I am well-rested. I swear I could solve world unrest, climb Mt. Everest and tackle whatever is across my desk!!
Credit for: doing my self-treatment knee exercises first thing in the morning. Also, working on core strength exercises.
Credit for: looking for ways to do "spontaneous movement" through out the day.
wife2abadge Thank you for the information about processed soy products. I don't automatically reach for packaged frozen foods in general and haven't any way but sometimes I just don't know where to start moving in this non-meat way. I am so new to all of this I am sure I am making some mistakes along the way. Do you have some suggestions on which cookbooks are best? I have a compilation one from "Vegetarian Times" for starters. I have also heard that fresh tofu is best. I have been afraid to cook with tofu because I really don't know where to start or how to substitute it. Any pointers?
maryann I have heard of the Zone but what is the plan exactly? I have found that when I eat really healthy which for me means staying totally away from junk food, sugar and most processed foods (anything in a box, wrapper, frozen or pre-made) I do not have much hunger at all. In fact, there are no body signals to tell me--"hey, time to eat there!" It is such a neat phenomena that it almost seems surreal.
BBE So how is renovation going for you? Remember, first it will look like a war zone before it looks like paradise. Enjoy your designated spots of tranquility.
Have you read the recent article in "Men's Health" regarding myths about weight lifting? I bought DH a b-day subscription last year, then renewed this year. I have resumed free weights on a more regular schedule so I read it. I wasn't doing any of the "myths" so I was glad about that.
I am finding that I have to contend with some joint irritation for the shoulders, elbows and wrists when doing my upper body but so far nothing that Icy Hot and some EX Tylenol can't handle. Again, starting back slow but consistent in all of these efforts.
Well, we put up some fencing in the garden. Man, it was hot out there but, at least, the sweating outside made up for the grilled chicken sandwich at Wendy's that had 1,110 mg sodium in (when I looked it up on their website, my jaw dropped). It was boneless chicken breast, grilled not fried. What the ???? Word to the wise: Wendy's (and I do love them for some of their choices they have now) are just head and shoulders above fellow compadres like McDee's when it comes to sodium. I'm not tasting it either and I don't add salt at home--where are they hiding it?
BBE about high cost of produce. Yes, again, those o' advertising sharks circling the consumer in the marketplace. They would try to sell us dog doo if it was deemed "desirable" by the consumer and jackup the price besides. As soon as the sharks get wind of the scent, they figure out a way to package it, price it and put it out there for us to consume. Gosh, I wish I could be less cynical but I have just seen too much. The o' flower child in me says there's got to be a gentler, better way. I'm seeking......
P.S. I bought some sugar snap peas and when I looked on the package, it said Made In Guatamala plus it was close to $6.00 for a small package of fresh peas. I turned to my DH and said "So, why can't we make these in U.S.?" So, Pam took the matter in her own hands, and mine are doing quite well in my garden. I guess, if you want 'em you gotta grow 'em yourself! No, the green market did not have enough to say "grace" over. When I want my vegetables, I want more than a token lettuce leaf.
We're picking up our first CSA box of the year this afternoon! I'm excited.
WI: -0.3kgs (new low), Exercise: +75 180/1300 minutes for June, Food: 80%op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes
pamatga: here is my go-to recipe for soy: tempeh sausage crumbles (http://www.theppk.com/2008/10/tempeh-sausage-crumbles/). I'm usually making it in a hurry so I use garlic powder instead of minced and skip the lemon juice. I like it spooned over a baked potato or brown rice or alongside toast. I love the spices! I realized that I really eat sausage for the spices, not the meat. I've even had it on top of salad when I didn't have a carb serving to spare and it was good like that, too.
I got the recipe from one of Isa Chandra Moskowitz books from the library.
Lexxiss: yay for a successful Beck day and lilac-scented bike rides!
BillBlueEyes: yay for a good food day!
maryann: hope you get your computer problems sorted out.
wife2abadge: love your half birthday idea
Last edited by gardenerjoy; 06-08-2011 at 10:56 AM.
cookbooks I love:
The Happy Herbivore by ---- someone whose name escapes me
Vegetarian Times Fast & Easy
Appetite for Reduction by Moskowitz (also her Vegan Brunch)
Get Healthy Go Vegan by Barnard
many cookbooks by Robin Robertson
Tofu can be baked in a lot of different ways and recipe books are the best way to find good options. The one thing no one told me when I started using it was that you have to press it before you do anything with it. Drain the liquid, put it on a bunch of paper towels or a clean, lint-free kitchen towel, put more towels on top, and put something heavy (like a glass dish or a heavy skillet) on top of it for 20 min or so. That presses out the extra liquid and gives it a better texture. Otherwise it can be terribly watery in recipes. I have a manicotti recipe that uses silken tofu (no pressing needed in that case) instead of ricotta cheese and my family didn't know the difference.
I've tried a few tempeh recipes and just can't develop a taste for it. I had a tempeh sandwich in a restaurant and loved it, but when I've baked it myself or used it in recipes, I have to force myself to eat it. So we eat a lot of bean recipes.
Diet Coaches/Buddies - A simple eating day; CREDIT moi. It's easy when all food for the day comes from my kitchen. I passed Trader Joe's on my walk and thought of going in, then thought that I didn't really want the sample of whatever, and went on my way; special CREDIT moi for that one as well as for being the day I tick my monthly maintenance counter.
Gym'ed as usual, CREDIT moi. My heavier dumbbells are still enough of a challenge that I'm not sure each session if I'll make it.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - First CSA box is exciting. Congrats, again, on another new low.
Debbie (Lexxiss) - Yay for "lilac laced streets" and weekly planned meals.
pamatga - Yep, Kudos for doing your knee exercises to increase that mobility. [Renovation continues with the bathroom removed - gone. No going back. Our sugar snaps are growing in our little garden patch, but the birds are eating the vines; not sure if we'll have a crop.]
Susan (wife2abadge) - I've also had tempeh at a vegan restaurant that was killer good - and my own is barely passable. DW only makes one recipe with tofu; gotta remember to have more of that.
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 3 Get Ready to Lose
*************
Now, with your supplies and Response Cards in hand, you're ready for Stage 1. You're ready to learn the step-by-step skills that will help you stick to the Think Thin Eating plan - for life. Research from Boston College shows that the people who are the most successful at making any major life change - quitting smoking, giving up alcohol, losing weight - generally start with one small step. The confidence the gain from successfully taking that first step leads to the next step ... and the next ... and the next.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D, The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), pg 46.
I did well yesterday until evening when I had an unplanned snack. Nothing bad...just unplanned. I was feeling bad because I haven't been counting calories but remembered that counting calories is my secondary plan and that SBD doesn't require me to count when I am mindful of my portions. I have been measuring my grains/proteins and decided I am OK with that when life is just so busy. Successful dieting while busy and stressed is not about "feeling bad". It is a sabotaging thought for me. Got on my bike and took a favorite puzzle to the puzzle table at the local library. Result….enjoyable diversion technique which puts me 3 blocks from my refrigerator.
BillBlueEyes, yay for a simple eating day on the day you tick your monthly maintenance counter!
Pam(pamatga), yay for a world that looks so much different when you're rested! Good for you working on your exercise and finding ways to do spontaneous movement.
gardenerjoy, yay for CSA!
Susan(wife2abadge), thx for recipe and cookbook suggestions!
Did well at a function last night -- helps that they served a main dish salad and brownies (DH and I split a brownie). I switched to water after one beer.
Our CSA box had a remarkable variety for so early in the season. Garlic scapes were the most unusual (the shoot of the garlic plant, looks kind of like chives, tastes more like garlic). I was actually most excited about the half a cabbage -- cole slaw!
WI: +0.35kgs, Exercise: +15 195/1300 minutes for June, Food: 75%op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes
Lexxiss: I definitely think that a plan that offers control without the details of calorie counting is the way to go during busy times. Good for you for finding your way back to that. Love your enjoyable distraction.
BillBlueEyes: yay for skipping Trader Joe's and another month of maintenance.
wife2abadge: thanks for the great list of cookbooks
Hello Coaches!
Typing this on my newly refurb-ed computer. It is working nicely. Op for Day Three (minus a few too many licks from the carrot cake batter) I was a little put out this morning I hadn't lost anything but I know if I stick to the plan it all comes around. I have working through my first book assignments for grad school - Frankenstein (extremely interesting - not at all a horror book. Much more a comment on the nature of man.); To kill a Mockingbird (re read) and Elizabeth Costello by a nobel prize winner I have never heard of. So far grad school is doing what I hoped - forcing me to start thinking in new ways or old ways I have been to lazy to rediscover.
Interesting topics with Lexxiss on vegetarianism. I have been thinking of adding even more vegis to our life but will never totally give up meat because of hubby. wife2abadgehanks for tofu info. I am going to star adding it to smoothies and see what happens. BBE: The world and the cosmos has been speaking "lentils" to me. You must be the fourth reference I have heard recently. I am going to look up some recipes. Gardenerjoy: I love the idea of a box of veggies I "have to " deal with . It helps me get creative. Pamatga: The zone simply says that whenever you eat something the carbs, fat and protein must be proportional in order to keep blood sugar levels even and reduce inflammation. Protein is 7 g, carb 9, fat 2.5. it is the only food plan that has ever worked for me.
Hello Everyone,
I am not sure what I am doing wrong but I somehow message my post when I try to post it. I won't retype tonight but will try again in the morning.
For Today: I skipped the ice cream party after my gd's graduation. Believe me I was eyeing the whipped cream and fixings but said, no thank you and retreated for home.
Thank you for the birthday wish Pamatga. You are doing fabulous on your program. Glad you are sleeping better too.
BillBlueEyes, Great job steering away from the supermarket snacks. Sometimes I have to race down to a "safe aisle" before I continue on with my shopping.
Be back in the morning. Going to give this one more try tonight.
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Got stuck going into an evening meeting where I expected some healthy food to be available for dinner and only found 2 brownies and two pieces of dark chocolate. I gobbled them all and called it dinner. Ouch - not a wise approach to sane eating. My thinking was that I was better off with a sugar hit than to sit for two hours grousing about lack of anything to eat. CREDIT moi for not eating the other two brownies - he said defensively, LOL.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Kudos for splitting a brownie (from the guy who just ate two, LOL) - that's keeping your head. Can't wait to hear what you do with those garlic scapes.
Debbie (Lexxiss) - Wonderful strategy for using the library as a comfortable spot far from your fridge.
maryann - It's neat that To Kill a Mockingbird is assigned to High School students as well as grad students. Now I gotta go read Frankenstein.
GardeningDeb - Kudos for skipping that ice cream - I'm right now in need of reading about sane eating. Ouch for the lost post - BTDT. I've learned to save a copy of my post in a wordpad document before I hit [Submit Reply].
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 3 Get Ready to Lose Why Other Eating Plans Don't Work
Most eating plans have one or more of the following characteristics. No wonder dieters aren't successful in either losing weight or in keeping it off!
Calorie counts are too low. We have found that most dieters can't sustain an eating plan with fewer than 1,600 calories, day in and day out. They may be able to eat 1,000 or 1,200 calories for a few days, weeks, even months, but they gradually (usually without realizing it) drift up to eating at least 1,600 calories. Or they go above their low calorie count one day, get hopeless or frustrated, and eat hundreds or thousands of extra calories. Then it is very difficult for them to get back on track, and sometimes they eat out of control for days, weeks, or months. There is no point in eating a very restrictive level of calories if you are highly likely to start eating ore - you will just gain back weight. . . .
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D, The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), pg 47.
Another healthy day...I am always grateful. Resistance muscle strong. Planned movement; I got 5 miles in on the bike riding around a lake in Denver. 2 garter snakes, lots of birds and one turtle...lots of people out with one thing in common...being outside getting some exercise. It felt good to be among likeminded folks. Food OP. A stop at Whole Foods netted canteloupe and blueberries which are making a perfect dessert while watching NBA finals. Weight holds steady. *credit* for all.
BillBlueEyes, ouch for a brownie/dark chocolate dinner. *credit* for calling it dinner and not just the appetizer.lol If I am having that kind of dinner, I do try to enjoy it...acknowledging it is tasty but not my norm.
gardenerjoy, yay for splitting a brownie and enjoying one beer. That's thinking like a thin person!
maryann, lentils are wonderful, in my opinion. ..one of our staples here. Glad you're enjoying your first book assignments. Yay for continuing OP days!
GardeningDeb, yay for resisting the ice cream party especially after eyeing the toppings. I, too, enjoy the safe aisles of the grocery store.
Planned exercise was scraping and painting. Spontaneous exercise was a hop on the bike to the library (2 blocks) which turned into a leisurely ride up and down the streets in our small town (3 blocks wide, 3 miles long). It's lilac time and the afternoon was warm. The scent just filled every breath of air I could find. I felt gratitude for the opportunity and gave myself kudos for having the mindfulness to "just do it". This morning I used the 15 minute plan to plow through a dining room bureau which was a catch all. It's now sorted, organized, relocated or pitched. 
Wednesday
gardeningdeb. Hope it is a good one!
hanks for tofu info. I am going to star adding it to smoothies and see what happens.
