[karenrn]

Good afternoon coaches,

Well, it's back to just me and hubby now. Sandee is back in Seattle. We had such a good time, but it is time to get back to real life.

Exercise was a good hike yesterday and food was within calories, but it was my one drinking day since a large group of us went out to a cowboy bar for the evening. How am I going to get my husband to take dancing lessons with me? We did dance once, but we don't know how to do what the others were doing. Great band though and I got asked to dance by a cowboy after dh went home and couldn't accept cause I wouldn't have known what to do. My two single friends were asked to dance and did, what fun!

Exercise was good today, Sandee and I were able to get our 5 1/2 miles in before I took her to the airport. After that it was grocery shopping, laundry, etc. I bought an app for the phone called Gaia GPS that people are raving about. Supposedly better than my Garmin GPS. Now I just have to take the time to learn how to use it. It's going to take a bit of time.

Nationalparker I hope you and the pup get a much better night's sleep tonight. The only thing worse than being kept up by a pup is being awake from noises when home alone and no pup to blame it on.

GardnerJoy Great to have a good food day after dreaming about treats. I used to dream about eating things I shouldn't have when on a fairly strict diet, but not lately. Hope you don't get too much snow.

Curlyjax Stir-fry sounds delicious. Oh there are just too many holidays with sweets.

BBE My brain gets tired just thinking about the topics you read about.

Onebyone I'm so sorry to hear about your Mom, it must be so difficult knowing she is just not herself. About the gums, do you have a Waterpik? It's a great gadget.

FutureFitChick It sounds like maybe your foot is a little better. I hope so. It sounds so beautiful to walk in the snow.

Waving to everybody else. I hope you all are okay in the storms/snow. I would love to see the snow, but wouldn't know how to deal with all of that. Be safe.

[FutureFitChick]

Hi, Coaches and Buddies.

A little down today. Got some disappointing family news today, and will likely learn more tomorrow morning. It was difficult getting my butt out the door to walk this morning. I was glad when I did it. But, I guess I used up my will power for the day on that and my food choices, so did not get any real work done. I cannot have many more days like this and still hope to graduate in May. Argh!

I continue to ice my foot several times a day as a precaution, and it does seem better, thankfully!

Bill Blue Eyes, great job ignoring the platter that forced you to eat ½ a cookie. Also, great job getting your walk in.

Curly Jax, good job for walking past the Valentine's Day candy -- so much of it!!! Great job getting back on plan after the crackers.

Gardener Joy, it is a relief that your treat dreams helped you out! Also, great job finding safe ways of shoveling.

Karen, RN, impressed at your 5 ½ miles on Sandee's travel day! I've been trying to get my husband to take dance lessons with me again. We did for our wedding years ago, but he hates it. I've been able to make small inroads with the "I really don't want to spend all of that time dancing with some strange man." (Honestly, most of the men I have met in dance classes have been super nice. But, I would RATHER dance with my husband than any one else in any case.)

National Parker, I like your "Moderation, not freedom" statement. Hope you get better rest tonight.

One by One, I am so glad that your mom is in a good care facility! I hope you have a nice visit with her tomorrow.

[maryann]

Phone check in. Beat the storm by leaving for the cabin this afternoon instead of tomorrow. The boys won't come till Sunday but friends are going to allegedly try to make it up. We'll see.
Credit for OP during some anxious work hours. I'll take a hot bath and figure out if I want to try and ski tomorrow.
Grateful I have enough flexibility in my work schedule to stay through Tuesday if I want.
Meal planned. I brought up weights to work put up here.

Wave.

[onebyone]

Coaches

Off to bed soon. Had an exhausting day. Coping skills were low. I fired off the kiln in the morning, then visited my mom. I was informed there was a respiratory outbreak and it was enter at your own risk I entered. It is flu season but I'm not sick and I saw my mom at the end of the hallway and just wanted to say hello. I dropped her clothes off and saw she was cold so went to her room to get a sweater and someone set off the alarm by trying to open a door. I saw a lady roll up to the door but didn't know it was armed. It usually isn't. So I got caught up in lockdown with my mom in her room while the fire department came and etc. She had her lunch so I just sat with her helping her eat it now and then when it seemed the right thing to do. She was in good spirits and we laughed often. Once we got the official all clear I went to the studio to clean it up but felt so overwhelmed, so discouraged I pretty much just closed the door and came home and zoned out. Picked DH up at work and have done nothing at all tonight. And then an email came from my SIL asking me how I would feel if she spread my brother's ashes on the property of the house he loved. That was it for me. That question has drained whatever energy I had and I feel beat up once more.

Foodwise did ok until the end of the day. Didn't hold it together. Didn't go nuts though just ate one more thing I didn't need. Weighed this morning and scale went down. Expect it to rise as I had chinese food this afternoon.

Bye for now.

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies – First walk, CREDIT moi, was to the corner store to get the Boston Globe whose delivery remains flakey. (Yet today's paper has already been delivered.) Next time to leave the house was to check whether we have enough gas with the neighborhood snowblower to handle a major blizzard. The current weather reports predict a token 1" of snow for Boston later on Sunday. My best wishes for the huge chunk of the U.S. who are getting walloped.

Food was OKish. We have a potluck with our reading group where I ate close to plan. The book was Autumn: A Season of Change by Peter Marchand. I had no idea that trees starting working around August to suck down their proteins in preparation for letting the leaves drop. What a complex process.


onebyone – Ouch for living through a lockdown in an assisted living facility. Kudos for "Didn't go nuts though."

Joy (gardenerjoy) – Glad you got off easy in the snow. Using good shoveling posture and counting it as exercise seems like a good strategy.

FutureFitChick – Sending supportive thoughts as you wait for the family news and fight to retain your will power.

maryann - Hope you get to ski. The ski resorts of New England are bitterly watching the predicted snow stay south of their slopes.

nationalparker – Right in tune with Beck's quote today, "smart choices all day despite being overtired."

Karen (karenrn) - That's a neat ego boost, getting asked to dance by a cowboy. Kudos for slipping in a 5.5 mile walk on the way to the airport.

curlyjax - Yikes! Valentine candy appearing already. Thanks for the warning.

Readers -

Chapter 4 Emotional Eating Traps

You may also turn to food when you experience minor discomfort. Perhaps you're feeling tired, bored, at loose ends, or you simple want to procrastinate. You may not even be fully aware of how you are feeling but find yourself heading to the kitchen for an unplanned snack.

The way way to escape emotional eating traps is to learn how to deal with discomfort in a new way. Instead of turning to food when you experience negative emotions, you can try to solve the problem you're upset about or adopt a more reasonable view of the problem. But if you are seeing the problem accurately and there's nothing you can do at the moment to solve it, you need to learn to accept your distress.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., Deborah Beck Busis, The Diet Trap Solution, Train Your Brain to Lose Weight and Keep It Off for Good (Blue book), pg. 66

[karenrn]

Good morning coaches,

Food portions were a little larger than they should have been. I need to remember that a chicken breast is typically too much and put it on the scale. Today's exercise will be a good walk with a friend, which is always enjoyable, credit. Food is planned and I plan to be very careful with portion sizes.

I am realizing that I am really going to have to tighten up the diet if I am going to get these last 10 pounds off. Just a little extra here or there puts me smack dab into maintenance. Starting today I'm going to give it a real go and I'll let you know if it works. If I can't do it I may have to accept my current weight and realize at least I know I can maintain it. The problem is I have many slacks and jeans and probably a few skirts that don't fit and my current selection is getting just a tad loose. I don't want to buy the size that fits perfectly if I can get into the things I have. I don't think I can expect any more exercise than I currently do, so I must tweak the diet.

I got started with figuring out the Gaia GPS and it may not be so difficult. Also figured out how I can use Overdrive on my computer to choose audiobooks from the library and they automatically go to my phone. So much easier to see the information etc. I don't consider myself too tech challenged, but some.

Bill It looks like you're going to be lucky with the lack of snow.

Onebyone Sorry you had such a rough day. I hope today is much better.

Maryann Enjoy your time at the cabin. It sounds like so much fun.

FutureFitChick Well I'm afraid my dh thinks it's fine if I dance with other guys. However I can work it so he doesn't have to dance. We'll see if that's really true if I actually go back and take some lessons. I hope you have a better day today.

Hello to the rest of you and have a great Friday!

[gardenerjoy]

Yesterday wasn't quite as good as the day before but not too bad. Room for improvement, so I'll improve.

WI: NA kg, Exercise: +40 790/1200 minutes for January, Food: 80% op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

karenrn: I've recently started getting e-books from the library. The price is right, but I'm finding it a bit of a process to figure out how to always have a book to read. I put a bunch of books on hold and they all become available at once! Then, I want something to read and all of those have gone on to other people and nothing is ready for me. I'm starting to use the Wish List so that I can stagger what I put on hold.

[maryann]

Good Morning, Coaches.

Quiet morning to myself. Using the time to plan for exercise. Went through ski clothes and such to prep for exercise this week. Food is planned. I looked at the menu and sighed that there are no sweet treats. But as Karen said, those little extras are what is keeping me in maintenance. If I follow the simple plan and I am one day closer to my goal. There is always time for a sweet treat after I do the work I am suppose to do. Advantage card: I want to be thin more.

Credit that my ski clothes have fit now for five years

Looking in to take a yoga class up here. It will be my first since June's nerve damage. i have a little fear. MRI review two days ago. Dr. kept me waiting in room for nearly an hour. I took Beck to heart and did an entire workout in there. Stretches and crunches on the examining table, table push ups and triceps exercises as well. If someone came in - Oh Well. Good news on the knee. Inflammation is repairing, no tear, and I got a clear for skiing.

BBE: If all newspaper readers were as devoted as you, there wouldn't be a newspaper scarcity.

onebyone: I can hear how demoralizing and scary the carehome is. I feel the exact same way when I am in any kind of medical facility.

I am feeling a little guilty that I am not at school. But I need to remind myself - my position is 60% - a position God gave me to prevent my burnout after 25 years. I am suppose to take this time with gratitude and creativity. I do believe our culture promotes stress and scarcity. At least that is what Facebook tells me. I never post but I find myself reading the posts. So for a positive step I am getting off Facebook. I don't read it much but I can feel it coloring my positivity. If people want to reach me they can reach me Duh!

[love2garden]

MaryAnn You are wise to truly follow doctor's orders, and the healing sounds especially good. Your work out was most interesting. I remember doing that when I was stuck on exam table and doctor was stuck in traffic. Didn't dare leave, but doing what I could certainly helped pass the time.

Like your wisdom to avoid stress and to take advantage of the lower work hours, letting go of false guilt.

Bill Snow has not stopped since 8:00 am and even the little Bob Cat that tried to clear at least a single lane in our subdivision had a time moving the 6 inches we got first. Now road is covered and almost no cars trying to come thru. Even our banks closed!!! Don't ever remember that happening for snow.

CREDIT: 30 minutes of strength/aerobic exercise in the house. Sweating and panting. Stretching let me know my hips are tight. Will resume my former daily stretching.

Food good so far. Hope our DirecTV satellite doesn't get covered. DH and I enjoy evening sports or movie. Judging by the fact visibility is limited to less than 100 yards, who knows. Just hope we keep power for heat!!

Sandy

[FutureFitChick]

I ate healthy food, but did not do a good job paying attention to what I was eating. I got my exercise in. We just got some life-altering, seriously disappointing news, so I am processing that and realizing I will be OK if I focus on that for a few days rather than work and diet. But, I still plan to exercise and use my Beck skills, I am just willing to be more forgiving of mistakes at the moment.

Hope you all are safe and well!

Bill Blue Eyes, thanks for your kindness and steadiness!

Gardener Joy, my library uses Overdrive, and I find the same issue with our ebook system. Let me know if you figure out a way to work out the kinks. Hope tomorrow is fantastic for you!

Karen, RN, best of luck on the diet adjusting.

Love 2 Garden, great job on indoor exercise!

Mary Ann, yay for ski clothes that fit! Awesome that you are cleared for skiing! Did you injure it recently? Clever work out!

One by One, sending you warm, peaceful thoughts after your emotional day!

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Just sitting here waiting for Armageddon. Thinking of all of you more directly in the path of Jonas. I went to the supermarket early - expecting the mobs stripping bread from the shelves - only to find many spaces in the parking lot and a standard group of shoppers inside. The single box of snow shovels stood untouched. Panic isn't coming or hasn't set in yet.

Meals were on plan, CREDIT moi, snacks too large. I have an event with food at 4pm today that hasn't been cancelled. Yet.


Joy (gardenerjoy) – Some days, "but not too bad" is just right.

FutureFitChick – Continuing to send supportive thoughts. Kudos for recognizing that forgiveness is part of the way forward.

maryann - I like this dose of perspective, "There is always time for a sweet treat after I do the work I am supposed to do."

Karen (karenrn) - Super Congrats for figuring out how to use your computer to get audio books downloaded to your phone.

Sandy (love2garden) - Hope your link to the Internet allows you to read here today - banks closing is serious response.

Readers -

Chapter 4 Emotional Eating Traps

Accepting distress is a learning process. A reasonable interim strategy is to focus on something else. You can begin by distracting yourself with pleasurable or productive activities. When you demonstrate to yourself that you can break the habit of managing negative emotions through eating, you will feel stronger and more in control. As you practice and gain mastery over emotional eating, you will probably experience a tremendous sense of pride and relief that food no longer has power over you.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., Deborah Beck Busis, The Diet Trap Solution, Train Your Brain to Lose Weight and Keep It Off for Good (Blue book), pg. 66

[karenrn]

Good morning coaches,

Credit for exercise yesterday. Credit for food within calories, but I did have one beer with my friend when she brought me home from the movie. We saw The Danish Girl which I thought was very good. My plan for today's exercise is a 10 mile loop hike by myself.

GardenerJoy My library also uses Overdrive. Sometimes I use the filter, "available now" and choose from that subset. I will admit they may not be my first choice books, but it is just entertainment for me while I hike which can be hours each week.

Bill I'm glad there was still food on the shelves of the stores. Let us know how it goes.

FutureFitChick I'm sorry about your disappointing news. Exercise is a good stress reliever if you can get yourself to do it during this time.

Sandy Oh I would love to see your snow, maybe not deal with it, but see it. I hope you don't lose power or television. Be careful.

Maryann Super credit for ski clothes fitting for five years. I surely couldn't say that. My ups and downs have narrowed, but not that narrow. Good job.

My plan for the day is to get my hike in and continue with Gaia GPS and some continued shredding in the office. Some files were thinned yesterday since new statements arrived which allowed me to get rid of many. Have a great day!

[gardenerjoy]

Another weekend of mostly catch-up work. Persistence and consistency are working. I usually give up before I reach a state of completion because the progress seems too slow; I'll never finish. But "never" is a long time and I'll catch up long before I get there.

WI: NA kg, Exercise: +40 830/1200 minutes for January, Food: 100% op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

Take care, love2garden, and anyone else dealing with lots of snow. We still have snow on the ground because it stayed cold. But just enough to feel wintery.

FutureFitChick: take care of yourself! I find distraction to be an under-appreciated coping mechanism at such times -- planning trips I'll never take, indulging in a mega-Pinterest session, watching You Tube videos of drum lines or funny cats. And, I'll second karenrn's advice -- a long walk or other exercise is amazing for burning away the excess stress hormones.

[nationalparker]

Phooey - I lost yesterday's post but no great loss, I suppose. Was so pleased to see Friday dawn! While my day wasn't perfect, it was a good one. Good breakfast and lunch -- skipped out on the office donuts and the staff impromptu lunch - well, they go out on Fridays but I don't care to join for $/calories. Yesterday was tough since they chose "my" little salad/pizza spot. Good I skipped bc DH suggested that for dinner and we each made smart choices there and scale was under what it was yesterday, so at ticker still. No forward progress, but backward has been halted.

Coworker returned after dealing with a serious family health crisis for a few weeks, and wanted to stop to pick her up a card and fresh flowers, but didn't allot time in the morning - then thought, this is more important than being seen ON TIME today. Thankful I did and ended up staying late anyway. We work many hours on the weekend that's just expected from home, so it's not like anyone is tapping their foot when I walk in late.

DH is sleeping and trying to adjust to a day work schedule, so I decided to do what I want to this morning, rather than scurry around trying to clean, move laundry along, organize, etc. There is time for that. Tomorrow night we are going to the dinner theatre (and boy, how do I hope the AFC championship game is over before we leave but doubtful).
Found a recipe for Thai sticky chicken fingers that you bake and while there are a lot of ingredients and steps, it looks simple. That will be our "lunner" - late lunch/early dinner with a spinach salad.

OneByOne - I'm thankful that you feel the staff is good where your mom is now. My SIL has worked with Alzheimer's patients for much of her nursing career and now she's a high-level administrator who keeps her RN license up in a facility. She used to tell about patients who would bite and she was so calm ... how was your day? Oh, I had to tell a gentleman that he is not allowed to bite me, a patient wouldn't stop pinching my forearm, but we finally calmed her down, etc. Just such understanding. I am thankful that many of those who are very patient, are in that line of work. I'm more patient with pets and young children.

Bill - Be careful with the shoveling! Sounds like it's coming down quickly, but I've not seen map totals yet - haven't searched around yet on the computer today.

FutureFitChick - Keeping you in my thoughts today as you deal with serious news. Yes, that deserves your focus - take care of you, too. Set yourself up for restoring sleep.

Maryann - YAY on taking time yesterday morning to plan/evaluate. And as a non-Facebooker, I will say kudos on realizing that it does color your outlook. I had accessed a site that was just vitriolic and lost a few hours reading everyone's rants last week and got off and was just impatient, quick to criticize in my mind, and negative. I realize how easily we ingest thoughts. Lately it's been more positive, affirming reading.

Karen - Like you, I select from Available Now unless i'm putting a specific book on hold. Sometimes I'll hit amazon and put in the title of something I particularly enjoyed to see what suggestions they have and often those are at my library in audiobook or kindle format, whichever I'm after.

Joy - I use the wishlist option as well at my library. They have certainly adjusted to the times! I like positiveness of your "room for improvement" mentality.

Love2Garden - You, too, be safe! I say this as if you're actually thinking of doing something unsafe but know our thoughts are with you through this. Good that some businesses close so employees don't have to drive in/home in it. Good reminder to me to ask DH to order that firewood so in case we lose power during a storm, we're "ok" ... I figure the bathroom that always freezes up (pipes) could theoretically be safe if we're heating leftover paver bricks by the fire and putting them under the sink pipes. ?? My mind works in strange ways DH says. I think it's completely logical and he grudgingly agreed. ha.

CurlyJax - How bad is the storm where you are? Hang in there! Don't eat bc of it. I say that bc I would and feel we have similar thoughts on some challenges! Stay busy with projects!

Lexxiss - Checking in to say hello! Hope all worked out with the tenants. Rushing off as battery is dying!

[curlyjax]

hi coaches!
kids and I just got back from going to the gym which we haven't done for about four months i think. they replaced the weight room equipment and are building an outdoor pool so that was interesting to see!
I do feel a little perkier after going, I just need someone to make me go!

I've been feeling very down about DH job situation-he had gone on a second interview, and they said you are our first choice, we want someone right away, - then time has passed and nothing, and the recruiter has ignored his email inquiry.
Its very puzzling and disheartening, and you start to get paranoid, wondering if i someone is saying something negative?

I am grateful that we have our health etc but geez is this frustrating, and puts a lot of things on hold.
And its cold out and winter is here, so I am not very motivated to eat well!
Hopefully I will feel better in a few days.
We're only getting a few inches fortunately- good luck to all who are dealing with more1