Rough work day today and will have a busy evening so a quick check in. Scale up several pounds this morning and I know it's from all the activity yesterday - even clenching my fist is tight, but I've not gotten in enough fluids today either - too many work meetings to be running to the restroom. Will add in more this evening. Dinner is in the works - peppers, onions, chicken sausage medallions and either sweet potato cubes or a bit of bowtie pasta. Easily will fit in with my plan today. Activity was exercise bike - not a lot but working my way up in minutes slowly... my quads feel boingy.
A higher-up thought Donut Monday was a good idea today and went around telling everyone that donuts were there. Credit for ignoring the lure. Day 16 a success so far.
Bill - KUDOS for a 100% on plan today. I'm flabbergasted at how quickly some of my daffodils came and went already. Have about 150 still in bloom - I tried to plant early to mid/late ones and the early ones (tete a tete) zipped by me. I'm going to plant more this fall. My dad used to tell me to get a lot of crocus bulbs (as they're inexpensive) and just throw them all over the yard at the end of the fall and they settle in and bloom before the first mow. Have you ever heard of that? I'd like to do it.
Spanky - YAY for a rewarding scale for your hard work on what sounds like a rough week. Wishing good outcomes for your efforts with the funeral home purchase!
OneByOne - sounds like your workshop was "those who can't ... teach" ?? I remember when I left newspaper writing folks kept asking if I wanted to freelance travel stories for all the swag, etc., and I thought that just doesn't make for honest travel stories if the room is paid, the meals are paid, etc. Made me wonder. Good approach to the gain - patience and common sense!
Karen- I was thinking of you yesterday when I wasn't thrilled with mowing - I thought, Karen would probably WANT to mow if she could! So hesh up and push. So I did. Great news that dr. thinks you're doing great - sounds like you're staying as active and healthy as you can instead of sliding into a funk.
No walk for two days in a row. Had a bad headache, which I sometimes get for who knows what reason. I think it's finally almost gone. I think some of it is just muscle tension in the shoulder area as a result of the arm. I DROVE TODAY. I was planning to go with dh on the weekend, but didn't feel up to it. Today I went out three times to stores that are between one and four miles from me. It was wonderful. My car is an automatic and I decided if I just stay on the regular streets and off the freeway I will probably do fine. I did. Food is kind of mediocre, a little more than I should have. I have a few busier days coming up with fun outings and friends in town from MN.
My life is beginning to be a little more normal, except for my lack of hiking, but I think I can now drive up to where the flatter safer hikes are. Will probably do that within the week.
Hoping that now that I can get to the store and even made most of the dinner tonight, I can get a few more veggies in. And you're right Nationalparker mowing the lawn sounds good.
My plan to lurk while on vacation was overly optimistic, so I've just caught up on what you're all doing today. (Future posts won't be so long. Here's my whole week. Yikes.) Thank you so much for the warm welcome!
Credit:
1) Have you ever let an 11-year-old plan three days at Disneyland? That translated into almost 25K steps a day during those three days. Crazy!
2) Food was a little wonky, but having a cooler (and transferring to a minifridge in the hotel) helped. Breakfasts of hard-boiled eggs and fruit made for at least one little whole food meal a day, and salads were easy to find. I didn't get any sweet treats of my own, although I had a bite of almost all of my son's. The rest of the vacation was a little less on point foodwise but overall not too bad. No gained weight on vacation=victory in my book.
3) Read my advantages at least some of the days.
Epiphanies:
1) Normal isn't normal. I estimate that a max of 50% of my time is normal. The rest of the time there are random injuries, scheduling blips, broken water heaters, work crises or (as was the case this week) vacations and sad things (memorial service for a dear friend who died a couple of weeks ago)....For me, that means that good eating and exercise habits have to become like brushing my teeth: stuff I do whether life is normal or not.
2) I am a golden retriever. Some dog breeds aren't food motivated and just pick at a bowl of kibble all day long. A golden retriever just wolfs it down in 30 seconds. I'm like a golden retriever by nature, so I'm always going to have to pay close attention to what I eat.
BillBlueEyes, you asked how I discovered the Beck books and how I found this forum. It's been several years since I first found the books, so I don't remember the details. I do know that my experience has been like lifting a cow. (If you do it every day from the time the cow's a calf, you can lift a cow, but somehow you always miss a day.) The addition of so many skills in a 30-day period has been overwhelming in the past. Also, I've never successfully found the coach/accountability/support before. Google brought me here, and I'm hoping that you all will help with that (and that I'll be able to help in return). I'm also planning on dragging out the days so that I don't add new skills until I feel really comfortable with the basics. I may be on Day 12 for a month. We'll see.
I'm looking forward to getting to know you all. Thanks so much.
Diet Coaches/Buddies – Did gym with trainer, CREDIT moi. It's fun to workout with someone paid to make me feel good about myself, LOL. Also got in my walk in a triangular path to do several errands including, of course, the library to return the CD's of The Soldier's Story and to pick up another book. I had to carry my jacket home since I was too timid to leave home without it and the temperatures got above 70 F.
Eating 100% on-plan, CREDIT moi, with nothing of interest about it. I talked to a friend who eats exactly one hardboiled egg for breakfast. That seemed so small to me that it made me hungry thinking about it. Maybe two or three would work for me.
onebyone – I'm having some difficulty understanding your "bisque firing" given the images in my head of bisque. I do have to admire a person who failed to make money as a travel blogger who converted that into making money describing that she didn't. Kudos for charging forth on your garden.
spanky - Wishing you good luck today hearing about your business deal. Kudos for being realistic about changes to your diet by trying them for a week.
nationalparker – Ouch for Donut Monday added to Donut Friday. Your dinners always sound yummy to me. [I've never heard of crocus bulb tossing. Look forward to hearing how it works out.]
Karen (karenrn) - Yay for driving, especially since it will help you get to the trails that are the right level for your healing arm.
Ani (dailypractice) - Oh Yes, keep us up to date on your Couch to 5K journey. Congrats for breaking the scale plateau.
CheatinVegan - LOL at your 11 year old travel director. Kudos for 25K steps a day - sound exhausting. And Kudos for bringing the cooler of food to help stay your path. [Love the analogy to "lifting a cow."]
Readers -
Quote:
day 34Solve Problems
You Can't Solve Every Problem
First, you should feel bad about these kinds of things. You wouldn't be human if you weren't upset. If you're drawing an unrealistic conclusion about these real-life problems, however, you might be able to respond to your negative thinking. For example, you might have the thought, Because of this problem, I'm going to have a miserable life. The Seven Question Technique might be useful in this circumstance.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), pg 233.
Hi coaches!
Credits for getting some walks in, and resisting after dinner munchings for two days now. Still struggling with resisting hunger at night- I can do it during the day at work when I'm busy, but when at night I'm tired, I don't want to deal with anyone or anything, and my resistance muscle is at its lowest.
Dailypractise-couch to 5K sounds great! I have a friend who did that program and is a running fiend now! My knees hurt too much when I run, I wish I could do it but it doesn't work for me. Karenrn-woo, driving is a big thing!! Congrats! Hope the healing continues to progress smoothly. Maryann-I'm impressed by your planning post from a few days ago. do you make different things for your family for supper, or do they eat what you eat and you restrict your portions? That is always my hangup especially with the kids. I'm not in love with the idea of cooking separate meals, but they don't always eat what would be best for me.
I enjoy reading the posts in the am with my coffee, a good way to start the day!
A bit bummed out this morning since the scale is up by three pounds and I have been ON TRACK and added in even more activity. I KNOW I'm doing well, but the "funny" is this coincides with me starting to plot my calories on LoseIt app and I liked being able to see the activity minutes add up and not use those really and then whammo! Will return to my book and just log in on LoseIt at day's end, I guess. Grumpy, too, that my scale read the same with me dressed last night as naked this morning - so I now believe it's out to mentally tackle me.
Challenges for me today and tomorrow: lunches out - one for a for birthday celebration and the other with a friend I rarely see. I am committed to ordering sanely both times. Just found out it's PF Chang's for today. I've done the lettuce wraps and split the order in two, so will do that to keep it under 300 calories with high sodium.
I didn't write a plan until 3pm yesterday, but I followed it exactly after that! Before then, I followed the plan I would have written -- CREDIT.
WI: -0.35 kg, Exercise: +60 570/1300 minutes for April, Food: NA op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes
CheatinVegan: Love both of your epiphanies! They hold true for me, too.
onebyone: I'm always startled by how many people I find on the internet making money by telling people how to make money on the internet. It all becomes a big echo chamber -- oddly seductive but not, ultimately, useful.
What a lively group this is!!!! It's wonderful to see so many postings ... It's all so helpful to me to read what you are all up to and how things are going... and to read about each struggle, each setback and each triumph.
Onebyone: Thanks for the info about the travel writing course. Too bad it was only so-so. Kudos for staying the course and for tracking your progress AND for cleaning out the flowerbeds. What a good way to welcome spring.
Spanky: Wishing you good news on the business opportunity. And I hope the change in calorie count turns out to work well for you.
Nationalparker: Your dinner sounds delicious and hurray for boingy quads and saying no to donuts. Boo for the uptick on the scale. Don’t worry. It’ll be back down. But what a good strategy you have by knowing in advance what you’ll order at the restaurant.
Karen: Yay for driving … and the dinner prep… And I sure hope the dratted headache is gone by now and that you’ll soon be on the hiking trails again.
Cheatin' Vegan Kudos for all that walking under the direction of your 11 year personal trainer. Awesome. And yay for reading your a/c’s. I love the “eating like a Golden Retriever”. Great idea to drag out the days. That’s what I’m doing this, my 2nd time through.
Bill: Kudos for the gym workout with trainer, for eating on plan and for the walks. I agree. One hardboiled egg wouldn’t satisfy me either. I’d want much more variety from the other parts of the food pyramid.
curlyjax: I know what you mean about certain times of day being the worst. My trouble time is 4pm. That’s cool about your friend who’s become a running fiend. Like you, I also have knee problems, but I’m hoping (from reading some stuff by a sports doc) that running might actually HELP by strengthening the surrounding muscles if I’m careful about mechanics and gait. We’ll see. I’ll take it slow and careful.
GardenerJoy: Kudos for sticking to the plan you would have written had you written one. And great observation about the number of people making money telling other people how to make money. Touche.
Wishing everyone a wonderful day...
Last edited by dailypractice; 04-14-2015 at 02:33 PM.
Spanky Often scale fluctuates and it has nothing to do with yesterday's food unless it is very high in salt or you are dehydrated. You are doing well.
DailyPractice 4:00PM is definitely out to trip us!!
Karen Driving? Wow, what freedom!!!
CheatingVegan Loved your description of your 11 Year old's actions and your results. Honestly, I've always believed that the age of 11 is absolutely the peak of a person's energy. How I wish I could go back for another try.
Bill 70deg. weather is reward for surviving your horrible winter. How much snow is left?
We have fern fiddles rising up tall, Trillium blooming in three areas, Johnny Jump Ups faces following the sun as it moves across from east to west. So alive the vegetation is!!! Service Berry blooms were so beautiful, now new leaves are beginning to hide them.
Hello Coaches
Very frustrated with myself right now … at 4pm. Exactly. I went to the kitchen to get an orange and half a fiber bar for my planned snack. My bf had left his bag of potato chips out on the counter since lunch. So I picked up the bag to put it away, but enroute, I reached in and grabbed a handful. A small handful. And as I was carrying this handful over the table to sit (yes I DID think to sit), my thoughts said: “I don’t care. I don’t care. Don’t try to talk me out of it. Don’t try to talk me out of it” over and over. I was mentally doing that thing kids do when they stick their fingers in their ears and close their eyes and yell “I can’t hear you”.
It might have stopped there. But it didn’t. After eating the handful, I was still saying “Don’t try to talk to me. I don’t want to hear it”, and I grabbed the bag and carried it out into the living room and sat down on the couch and started scarfing it down.
The good news.
1. I DID STOP before the bag was empty. I’m going to call it 2 servings, but not sure. I won’t beat myself up. I’ll just try to learn.
2. I wrote down the nutrition per serving in my notebook, where a serving is 1 ounce, about 15 chips. Each serving is 150 calories, 10g of fat. Multiply that by 2. Yikes. (but at least I'm not multiplying it by 8)
3. I realize I DID NOT read my advantage cards this morning. Nor prior to 4pm. In the future I MUST do this. Maybe I need a reminder card to do that.
4. I better make a response card for this situation, when I’m saying “I don’t care. Don’t try to talk me out of it”. And post them in critical locations.
5. For dinner, I will call the chips part of my dinner and skip the starch at dinner.
Thanks, coaches for listening to my rant.
I plan to have a much better evening... and I wish you the same.
Started out a little rough with food (eating comfort food emotionally). I realized that today was the first day I've been alone with myself since a friend died a couple of weeks ago. (She was diagnosed with nasty cancer a little less than a year ago.) Credit: I stopped eating stuff and just felt sad, and it was appropriately miserable. The rest of the day, food was fine.
Credit: Advantages of losing weight! Today, what really resonated with me was that losing weight will help me run faster and with less stress on my joints. That sounds awesome.
Credit: Walked 11K+ steps and did a bit of yoga.
BillBlueEyes, congratulations on a 100% day. curlyjax, congratulations on walking and resisting the lure of after-dinner snacks. nationalparker, good luck with eating out. I wish I could treat the scale as just a data point without emotion, but it impacts my mood. Good for you for knowing you're doing well in spite of the scale. gardenerjoy, Congratulations on following your plan, even before you had one. dailypractice, your chip experience sounds familiar. I'm hoping that over time the frequency will drop close to zero. Congratulations for picking yourself up, making a plan, and being gentle with yourself. Your post made me feel really good. spanky, I love your plans to keep out of the kitchen. Good luck with the seller. love2garden, your spring sounds beautiful.
Wednesday - Titanic Rememberance Day (1912) - U.S. Income Taxes Due
Diet Coaches/Buddies – Wore a short-sleeved shirt in the 70+ degree sunshine. Felt so free. On my second walk, CREDIT moi, DW and I chose a route down a street we'd been avoiding during the snow because the sidewalks were constrained. It felt freeing to have access to any part of the city.
Eating was 100%, CREDIT moi, including Alaskan Wild Caught Salmon steak grilled on the patio. Thank you Alaskan fisherman for such jewels. DW cooked a second steak to have cold in a few days; I'm already drooling. (Whole Foods had it on Super Sale: only $15 per pound reduced from $30 - my mind boggles at those numbers.)
Joy (gardenerjoy) – LMAO at "a big echo chamber -- oddly seductive but not, ultimately, useful" - why yes, yes it is.
spanky - That's one noble activity: "Finishing half-read books." Kudos for remaining sane while waiting to hear from your seller.
nationalparker – Ouch for a scale "funny" just when you're ready for good news. Kudos for planning your attack on PF Chang's - a known difficult restaurant.
curlyjax - Yep, tired and relaxing is a challenging time for many of us; Kudos for recognizing the circumstances that you have to work.
love2garden - Ouch for a lost post. All our snow is gone; we have to search the neighborhood for a particularly shaded spot to see small mounds - except in the city parking lots where the mounds of plowed snow look like they'll last till summer.
Ani (dailypractice) - Yes, indeed, Kudos for stopping and accounting. "I don’t care" is the cruelest of Sabotaging Thoughts since we obviously do care.
CheatinVegan - Sending supportive thoughts as you process the loss of your friend. Kudos for recognizing that you need to feel your sad in order to move on.
Readers -
Quote:
day 34Solve Problems
You Can't Solve Every Problem
Whether or not you've drawn unrealistic conclusions, though, make sure to seek support. You need to talk to other people. Ask them to listen. Tell them what they can do to help in practical ways. For example, they might have some ideas of what you can do to make your life better, given these uncontrollable circumstances. If you find that you're still having a hard time dealing with your feelings, consider seeking help from a mental-health professional or spiritual advisor. Reach out.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), pg 234.
Finding I just feel "yucky" on 1500 calories. When I see I have 300 calories left after dinner, I overeat snacks. So 1400 calories planned today. Lost a pound of water overnight.
Nothing from the seller and somewhere in my brain I've let go of the fact there was supposed to be a deadline for her response. We move on to the next For Sale sign and if she calls us, she calls us.
Very happy that my Stealth Approach to my exercise plan seems to be working and I don't find it burdensome this week. Not saying what it is yet because I might scare myself and stop doing it!
dailypractice: This is something to learn from. Maybe BF can keep his chips in a snack cupboard somewhere? My husband has all his junk food out of sight in our pantry....
I got my first 100% day in a while -- it was a generous plan, but I stuck to it! CREDIT. And, making note that it feels good to do that!
WI: -0.05 kg, Exercise: +40 610/1300 minutes for April, Food: 100% op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes
dailypractice: I recognize that "I don't care" voice! The good news is that the resistance muscle comes into play here -- I can get myself into states where I don't hear that voice for months at a time. I'm not in that state at the moment, but I'm hopeful that I'm headed that way. I'll bet you are, too.
Tuesday
The case of the missing potato chips
” over and over. I was mentally doing that thing kids do when they stick their fingers in their ears and close their eyes and yell “I can’t hear you”. 