Friday - Arbor Day
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Six events in one day is too many; I had to skip one of them. I left the house at 11:30 a.m. with only breakfast under my belt and returned at 7:40 p.m.. There was an unexpected Dim Sum lunch in Boston's China Town in midafternoon. I'd forgotten how much fun it is to have carts continuously pull up showing off food that's immediately placed on the table. DW and I ate reasonably - so reasonably that I was embarrassed that the bill only came to $11 before tax. This, with a fresh linen tablecloth and scads of uniformed waiters. We were among the few who weren't speaking Cantonese. I declared the late afternoon reception to be dinner. I had too many nibbles, but only food nibbles avoiding the caloric beverages.

Exercise was walking, CREDIT moi, including to and from subways that connected most everything. Our cars stayed in the driveway the whole day.


onebyone – So great that your mom was having a good day. Good luck at your pottery guild sale today.

Joy (gardenerjoy) – When my on-plan food isn't visible, my hearing improves enough that I can hear the distant calls of the unplanned stuff in the back of the pantry. Yay for planning food shopping.

Debbie (Lexxiss) – Ouch for plumbing leaks that can't be ignored. I hate discovering water problems after they've caused unnecessary damage. Kudos for taking a chill instead of eating about it.

nationalparker – The killer in a mystery is generally about the tenth person that I've suspected, LOL. Kudos for being in Sherlock mode.

Karen (karenrn) - Ouch for Costco-sized anything. Tip: Only males ever see the underside of toilet seats and, in all my years, I've never heard a man discuss the subject.

lizardnumbers - Neat that exercise begets exercise.

Readers -

hi coaches- super quick wave! its been very busy, and i am off in an hour to visit some family in DC for the weekend. I never get to do this by myself so i am super excited, but also nervous because i so rarely fly! i'll probably be offline until tuesday but will read- sometimes its hard to post on a kindle.
thinking of you all!!

Good morning coaches,

I had planned to hike Bell Pass with the backpack this morning, but it is so cloudy and when I arrived there it looked like rain was coming down nearby so I turned around and came home. I'll take the day off and get some things done around the house today. I'll post that on the other thread.

Food was on plan and within calories yesterday. I wanted a sweet treat in the afternoon, but instead I got busy with housework. Later I was delightfully surprised that I had totally forgotten about the sweet treat.

Bill It sounds like you had way too much going on yesterday. I sure like the sounds of Dim Sum though. With only an $11 bill you must have been very good. I seldom get Dim Sum although Hiking Suzanne says there is one place here that is good.

Lizardnumbers Glad you had a good day, both exercise and food wise.

Nationalparker Hopefully you are already partway to Chicago. Keep your eye on the prize. You can do almost anything for 5 weeks. Keep imagining how good it would feel to be more comfortable in your clothes at your big event.

Onebyone Yahoo for a 100% on plan day and I'm so glad to hear your Mom was better than anticipated. I'm sure you have some apprehension about how she will be each visit.

Lexxis As always I'm so impressed with all the different jobs you tackle. How did you learn how to do all these things? I can't believe your crazy weather up there.

GardenerJoy Get thyself to the store. I will be doing the same later today. Very hard to stay on plan when we don't have the foods we need. I have the most difficulty with either over buying or under buying produce.

Waving to MaryAnn and Sandy. It's almost the weekend!

Yesterday went totally haywire. Everything was just awkward -- timing, lack of best-choice foods, fatigue, apathy. It's often really hard to find willingness the day after a day like that. But, here are my credits:

• I shopped and bought the missing best-choice foods
• I cleaned the kitchen after supper
• I went to bed early

That all feels like a gift to myself that I don't want to waste. So, I'm feeling grateful and willingness is coming right along with it. Yay! CREDIT for measuring my breakfast cereal so that I'm off to a great start.

WI: +0.35 kg, Exercise: +25, 915/1000 minutes for April, Food: 50% op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

Good Afternoon, Coaches.

So glad my weekend has begun. DH surprised me this morning with an hour of coffee and some togetherness time. He has been trying to carve a little more out of his busy schedule. We spent the morning driving around the open ground. We saw one of rice fields get planted by the plane, the sunflower rows, and the walnuts fully green with nut bunches . We drove around lot when we were dating. Good memories. It is nice he planned it. He also took my bold suggestion of a Mother's Day gift of a bike to match DS's new one and we all go biking on Mother's Day. Yippee.

On the whole, I feel more like myself than I have in almost a year. I am able to workout more. I am able to move away a little from the medication. I have made some big changes in work life and personal life but I feel good about them if a little apprehensive. Still lots of work to be done. But today is better than a month ago and much better than six months ago. I am completing a week long food cleanse. I have rid my diet of the seven most common allergens: dairy, gluten, soy, peanuts, corn, eggs, artificial sweetener . As has happened in the past, I am completely NOT hungry. To do this I must severely limit food choices so I know it is not forever, but it feels good to have a plan. I want family night at the club so that will be exercise. See if it pans out. Weight is somewhere near ticker which is ok for today.

KarenRN: There are terrific hiking places around here. We are very lucky and I plan to take advantage of them now that I am physically up for the challenge.

nationalparker: Wow. Mousetrap brings back lots of memories. Saw it years ago. I love mysteries.

Hi Coaches!

Checking in from my phone. Today, OP so far. I made a big push today and got many things accomplished in Denver. Food purchases both to satisfy my needs and those of DH when he returns from Europe late Wednesday night. Exercise at home nixed in favor of hauling many heavy items by myself. I figure at least 450# although 5 bags of soil remain in the vehicle. I was out of Costco before samples came out. Lunch was yummy salad and I supplemented when I got home. I am attending potluck tonight and have found my best strategy is to not go hungry. I will take smoked salmon platter and a dessert ok for me to eat. Until then, I will rest.

MaryAnn, so glad to hear you are feeling better!

Karen, I learned many skills 25 years in Alaska. Here, my helper is a woman who should have her own tv show. She is talented and comes up with creative solutions. She is a WW gal so we share the interest of weight loss. We have a plumber who likes us and will forgo a consult fee as I buy him breakfasts where I work.

Good evening coaches. I walked on the treadmill today again, and did pretty well on my food. Taking photos of the food I eat has gone better than expected so far. I am enjoying looking back at the day, and it really makes an impression when I can see clearly how much I've already eaten that day... And it's definitely helping encourage me to have more vegetables. My walking lunch plans fell through, but I went home and had a healthy lunch at least. sitting down and catching up on my Beck reading this weekend, I've been working on scheduling but I'm ready to move on with my schedule a progressing work in progress. Glad the work week is over, hoping to have a productive weekend.

Billblueeyes dim sum sounds amazing. I've never been to a restaurant like that, though I hope to one day. I doubt I'd be able to make such reasonable portion choices. Kudos.

Saturday - Louisiana Purchase, from France for $15 million (1803)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Expanded my horizons last night at The Merry Widow, an operetta by Franz Lehár. The composer was new to me - don't know why I've never seen this before. It was nearly three hours of enchanting, melodic, Viennese waltz music. Some enchantment drifted away as it kept going on for three hours. We were going to meet friends for coffee afterward but they bailed out because of the hour even before we did.

Going out at night is an easy way to avoid evening snacks, CREDIT moi. But I fell into some morning snacking which I converted into lunch so that I may have not been over my plan - just redirected. I don't think that I had a vegetable all day since dinner was quick cheese-toast to get out of the door by 5:30 p.m. to get to the theatre for the pre-performance lecture.


Joy (gardenerjoy) – Kudos for recovery from "haywire."

Debbie (Lexxiss) – That "smoked salmon platter" makes me wish that you went to my potlucks. Super strategy to get out of Costco before the samples appear.

maryann - "I am completely NOT hungry" sounds just amazing. Love the visual of the farm boy taking his girl through the fields.

Karen (karenrn) - Yay for forgotten sweet treat.

curlyjax - Waving back toward Washington, D.C. Have a nice trip.

lizardnumbers - Many of us here have a lot of "work in progress" - keep the faith.

Readers -

Quick kindle check-in...yesterday was at 172.6, so finally under that 173 barrier I've put in place for myself mentally apparently...but then had a big food day. Credits for getting a chicken sandwich at super late lunch and leaving top of delish bun...getting chips...homemade...and eating only 5...sharing the others. Free. Eating half of dinner and taking rest of chicken then too for dh. It's safely in hotel mini fridge. Loads of walking. Will get back on track today. I've crashed on hotel floor with sleeping bag. No pad. Dh asked me over and over. Smart man. I said I was sure they'd have a chair or sofa in the room. Nope. Sleeping bag is for warmth only do my body is SORE.VERY SORE. I will tell dh he was absolutely right. My sleep pad is good and not sure why I resisted. Woke up Super early and read for a long while. Think breakfast will be at a corner bakery (chain name) they have healthy choices.

NFL draft here this weekend so it's been mobbed.

Woohoo! An on-plan day!

WI: -0.4 kg, Exercise: +45, 960/1000 minutes for April, Food: 100% op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

Good morning, Coaches.

lizardnumbers: What a creative idea - photos of what you ate. There would be a double check for me if I SAT DOWN while I took the photo.

nationalparker: i must have missed why you are sleeping on the floor, that does not sound ideal.

lexxiss: Always enjoy the cast of characters in your life. A handy woman instead of handyman is very refreshing.

BBE: I remember my old music professor talking about operas. Many times and in many places they were not a "sit in one place and listen kind of thing." They were a backdrop for commerce and socializing. 3 hours would whiz by if that were the case. Reminds me of how Dickens can seem long because he was paid by the word. London as well. Let me tell you, White Fang could definitely use some editing.

As for me: Day 5 of cleanse. Feel good. A long walk today planned. Finishing a Susanna Kearsley historical fiction "A Desperate Pleasure". She always has a modern day heroine and a historical heroine with some kind of psychic stuff in between. Fun book. This is her second on the Jacobites which is less interesting than the one about the Tsars in Russia.

Hi Coaches!

Monthly potluck got me home way past bedtime. Only one pass through and easy on dessert. Credit. I think I remember seeing 10pm. I woke at 430 anyway and after 2 cups of coffee decided to "just do it". Packed up what I needed and headed up to paint over our replaced wall/floor in the rental closet. I vacuumed and did more tidying but decided to leave the fan running in the bathroom since we don't have anyone we're going to show it to for a few days. Got home, changed clothes and I have the day for me! My house is reasonably clean so I think I'll start with coffee. It's still cold (28) but sun is shining. I did thaw the hummingbird feeder (spontaneous exercise) although it would have probably thawed on it's own. lol

I got everything but big bags of soil out of the vehicle from yesterday. I remembered organic sugar. (for hummingbirds) Proud to say we don't go through 5# of sugar in a year. It's amazing. I still use agave for baking but don't do much of that, either.

Weighed, did weights and wrote it down this morning. Credit. I have a plan for today.

Gardenerjoy, :woohoo:

Nationalparker, kudos for seeing the number you strove for! Ouch for hard floors!

BBE, long operetta! Good it started early!

Lizardnumbers, I'm intrigued by your food photos! I never thought about it but it’s a great way to gain perspective on portions...presentation...quality of choices. Kudos for such a great idea!

Karenrn, kudos for posting with us on the declutter thread. I try to set my mind to accomplishing housework as exercise. Nice the housework diverted you from sweets.

Onebyone, glad your mom was doing well and kudos for your commitment to OP!

Curlyjax, fun weekending!

MaryAnn, love the thought of "driving around".

Good morning coaches,

Very nice 90 minute walk with 2 good friends this morning and a 30 minute coffee break in between, credit. Yesterday's food was bad. The sweets that I had forgotten about the day before were eaten yesterday. Way too many dates. I will never, ever buy the large bin of dates at Costco again. I can't be trusted and they were not hiding. Back on track today, but we are going out for a burger tonight.

GardenerJoy Yahoo for you for having a great day yesterday. Here's to hoping it starts a string of them for you.

Lexxis I hope your me day includes some relaxation. You deserve it!

Maryann Glad you're feeling better than you have in a year. You've made so many positive changes. Good job, change takes courage.

Nationalparker So glad to hear you broke through the barrier. I hope you aren't too stiff and sore from sleeping on the floor to drive home safely. Let us know how your visit went.

Curlyjax Have a wonderful time on your getaway.

Lizardnumbers Photographing your meals does sound intriguing. I think mine might tell me something about portion sizes . . . as in too large.

Waving to Onebyone and Sandy. Enjoy your weekend everybody!

End of April
 

Hi Coaches

Walked for 3 hrs off and on downtown on a coffee and pastries walking tour, a gift from my SIL. Fun!! Only small sampling of rare and unusual things. Nice.

Got a call late in the day that the local mayor chose one of my collaborative bowls as Mayor's Choice at the Potters' Guild sale and insisted on purchasing it for himself. He didn't have to do that. The Guild also gave him a cup as a gift and he chose a mug made by me and my friend once again. Yay! Another line on my resume.

Weight was down to 263.3 this Morning, so a 4 lb loss for the month. I wanted 5 but it could have been 0 so happy with 4 off. Met and exceeded my exercise minutes goal for the month(450 min) but came up short one week with frequency domain ng 4 days out of 7 instead of 5. Super close.

Happy it's almost May.
Have a good night.

Good evening! It's been a pretty good week plan wise, have continued logging my food via taking photos -- it's been a pretty interesting way to look back on how I've done. Have been looking up some new recipes to try -- hunting a good fairly health corn chowder if anyone has a good one, or other healthy soups/stews. Just finished some beef and vegetable soup that I had for lunch for a few days in a row, and realized it was pretty healthy and a good way to save a little money/planning time on lunch. Glad to be off work today and gorgeous weather. Went looking for a kitten to adopt but haven't found the right one yet. Working this weekend on developing an exercise plan. Oh and while eating wasn't perfect, credit for going for more salad and not the ice cream that is calling my name...

onebyone Congratulations on your sale and being Mayor's Choice! That's wonderful!