A late afternoon post from me today. It's been quite a good day so far with flexibility and weights exercise this morning, followed by hill sprints this afternoon. As you know, I'm moving into a new phase quite slowly and sprints have been in the long-term plan for a while. Apparently, short sprints are the best way to shift tummy fat. There's a spectacularly good hill near the DB's school which I've had in my sights since the beginning of September. Today I felt I was able to give it a go. You walk down slowly, drinking in the wonderful landscape of water and bridges below. Then you power back up for 18 seconds, going as fast as you can. Then you're meant to stroll back down to the starting point but I thought I'd just dawdle up for about 10 seconds (it's a big hill and has to be climbed some time), and then another 18 seconds as fast as possible. It really clobbered me, like it did the previous time I did it but that hurt my back. I think I might be strong enough to do it now and my tummy has more fat than required, to be perfectly honest. I used to do this anaerobic exercise on a rowing machine, back in the days when I went to the gymn, but this is very much better for the views and the fresh air. For the future, I'll pick a good spot for the view and do the up and down in the same place, seeing the view over and over again.
Food is on track. Tonight we're having an experimental chicken casserole [think this is a different use either side of the pond but no time to explore at present] I made a few days ago which has been in the freezer. There will be more veg (to be decided) and I've just started focaccia for the youth and the cyclist. Feeling serene about this. AKA, like it or lump it and I'm not having focaccia.
FutureFitChick, so pleased to hear you're being gentle with yourself. Good luck with just tea and coffee. About great English recipe books - I'm not sure. The UK is often decried for its appalling cuisine but I think there are some quite good things in amongst it all. Delia Smith's Complete Cookery Course is quite good. Eating out is often a disaster here, in my opinion.
maryann, glad you checked in. Phones are great for quick comms. Weight at ticker - excellent! Food tracked - credit.
gardenerjoy, that certainly is a challenge about early breakfast. It could throw me too. Tell us how it worked out, won't you? Interesting your character's on a plane to London!
Bill, hold this thought:
Quote:
a chocolate chip cookie is a failed oatmeal raisin cookie
It's the kernel of an answer to a sabotaging thought, isn't it?
to everyone. Have to go as the dough has doubled in size and it needs my attention.
A few busy days/evenings over here. DH is working on the dryer installation and we'll get the other one to the curb - someone always drives through before trash day and picks up all appliances to refurbish. This one I'll put a sign on so he knows what the deal is. Finally weekend eve! Have been on plan. Made pasta e fagioli last night and it came out superb! New recipe to add to the monthly menu. I swapped ground turkey in place of the beef and added extra onions and garlic for add'l flavor. Love trying a new recipe that turns out very good. This year I wanted to try one new healthy recipe every other week and of those we've tried, most have been keepers! So my menu listing has changed over solidly to different ones. Less cheese (sniff sniff)...
Salad for breakfast with pineapple balsamic, mandarin oranges, unsweetened dry coconut and raw pumpkin seeds ... a few dried cranberries. Delish. I do love that on spring mix. Added a smaller one with dinner. On plan today!
Better note tomorrow with personals. Need to lend a hand.
Friday - Henry Stanley, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" (1871, Central Africa)
Diet Coaches/Buddies They're gone! CREDIT moi. The two Kit Kat bars got left in the coffee area where I take a course. There's lots of traffic - some deserving old guy who needs calories will grab them. Or some undeserving young guy who's trying to gain weight to impress the ladies will get them. But it wasn't me. It wasn't me. It took nine days after Halloween to make them disappear. My little brain's Resistance Muscle flexes in joy. And eating was on plan with no snacks. On a roll here.
Exercise was walking to the subway on the way to a Friday night opera held on Thursday night. It's hard to believe that two Scottish murderers of 1828, Mr. Burke and Mr. Hare, make a subject for an opera. Much ado was made of the 'well known' nursery rhyme:
Up the close and doon the stair,
But and ben' wi' Burke and Hare.
Burke's the butcher, Hare's the thief,
Knox the boy that buys the beef.
Never sang it, myself. Many bodies on stage even by the standards of opera.
Joy (gardenerjoy) Wise plan, "I'll let hunger be my guide."
silverbirch Good grief, hill sprints is some serious exercise. Kudos for "like it or lump it and I'm not having focaccia" - since focaccia is my current favorite bread.
FutureFitChick Yep, Kudos, indeed, "for being gentle with myself."
maryann - Thanks for "Service thwarts the self centered nature of my compulsions."
nationalparker Kudos for continuing to update your recipe list.
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 5 Week 1 - Get Ready: Lay the Groundwork
day 1Record the Advantages of Losing Weight
Face Reality!
Did you read on to this part of the chapter without creating your Advantages Response Card? Please don't fool yourself that you can skip this step. If you want to lose weight permanently, you have to change the way you think about eating, dieting, and yourself. If you follow only some of the steps, you'll probably have trouble losing weight or maintaining your weight loss. Then you'll blame yourself: I just can't do this! I can't lose weight!
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), Pg 60.
Last edited by BillBlueEyes; 11-10-2017 at 12:04 PM.
My eating day didn't go quite as well as I planned yesterday, but much better than it would have gone if I hadn't planned.
At the end of the morning meeting, they were pushing us to take the breakfast sandwiches that we all ignored. "You can have it for lunch." Everyone was doing that and, somehow, that made me want to go along. I found one that looked good (It was called a "Breakfast Power Sandwich" that sounds healthy, right?).
I decided to eat it as soon as I got home, mid-morning, and call it half my lunch. At lunch time, I had a big salad, but I added turkey for fear of getting hungry later. So, really, that made it more like two lunches than one lunch split over two times. That did make it easier to follow my normal eating plan for the rest of the day.
The eating, all day, wasn't propelled by hunger. It was propelled by feeling stressed by a too long to-do list and difficulty finding the determination to work with it.
What finally helped was a priority grid. Once I had my list in priority order, I felt more motivated to start at the top and work my way down and that reduced both the stress and the desire to eat. Although, I still wanted lots of breaks and I still wanted those breaks to be centered around food. An early walk as a break helped with that.
Today is much less challenging, but I still have a too long to-do list, including being behind on my NaNoWriMo word count. Since the priority grid worked yesterday, I'll use that again today. Time to get moving on it!
Weigh-in: +0.2 kg, Exercise: +40, 330/1200 minutes for November
maryann: I've had two conversations this week where we observed that the happiest people we know are involved in some sort of compassionate service with others. The least happy people are the ones who only attempt to impact the world through posts on Facebook.
FutureFitChick: I'm very familiar with this: "Even typing that makes me disappointed." For me, that's usually a signal that I need to keep typing and thinking. So, I'm curious how your plan to stick to beverages worked.
silverbirch: I love the idea of doing sprints in a spot with a good view.
nationalparker: Your breakfast salad sounds wonderful!
BillBlueEyes: I don't know the Burke and Hare rhyme. Thanks for the link to Burke and Hare -- I liked the particularly gruesome detail of the fate of Burke's body.
My brother and I have been trying to figure out why we've known "Remember, remember the fifth of November" since childhood -- another very British rhyme. We pieced together a memory of our dad saying it at the breakfast table each year on November 5. We checked with a cousin and he knew it, too. So, now we're thinking that our grandpa memorized it. It's not good literature, but back in the days when children were expected to memorize poems, that one would have appealed to boys with all its gunpowder, treason, and plot.
hi coaches! Very quick wave from florida as I'm sitting in the "office room" of the hotel. I have very much enjoyed the great warm weather, good food and lots of dolphin sightings! Today is just relaxing, thinking, reading and making some kind of 1500 day calorie plan i can follow. I feel so lucky to be here away from everyone and everything, with my biggest decision being what do i do for dinner today. I wish all caregiver spouses could have this. DH has apparently vomited one night back at home (which my daughter texted me, urging me to come home) but he reassured me he is feeling much better and there's nothing i could do anyhow which is true.
Its occurred to me i've had fruit but practically no veggies here. yikes! maybe a salad is in order today.
Happy Friday all!
I am feeling improved over yesterday. Shockingly my weight was down this morning, which was an unexpected blessing.Food so far today has been reasonable, and I'm taking credit for making the choice to eat leftovers in (with healthy portion sizes) rather than get delivery when I didn't want to cook.
I slept through the night last night, and woke up refreshed, but am having trouble getting in to the work I had planned for today.
My plan to stick to beverages yesterday sort of worked. It wasn't a good plan for the way my time actually went. I ended up eating lunch out, but made a wonderful choice for my lunch selection. So, I will call the plan a good one and the execution of the alternative also good.
Bill Blue Eyes, great job departing with the pesky Kit Kat bars.
Curly Jax, credit to you for recognizing the need for additional vegetables. I love watching dolphins!
Gardener Joy, I will be looking up priority matrix next! Glad you found something that worked for you and I hope the words come easily today.
National Parker, credit to you for your healthy monthly meal planning! That's great! I've tried it a few times, but never have stuck with the plan to make it successful for the whole month.
Silver Birch, great job at embarking on impressive hill sprints!! I second your opinion about eating out in the states too.
Finally Friday - phew. I always start the day hoping that we can get out a little early since we do work off/on throughout the weekend, but always end up working to 5 or later every week. It's funny... Lunch was an indulgence, but a great social time with my coworker. Her mom died three months ago and we've talked a lot about our families... I know this will be a hard holiday season for her, if only for the different family dynamic. She's Muslim and doesn't celebrate Christmas, but her family gathers as most get time off anyway.
Dinner was a quick frittata with a potato, onions and red peppers. Came out surprisingly well - I often forget that for a dinner. I need to get back to my menu planning tomorrow. And I need to do up a new advantages card. Mine is too old and not fresh enough to inspire.
Bill - Credit for managing those two Kit Kat bars through to their disposal.
GardenerJoy - I hope you're enjoying the NaNoWriMo process - one third through now!
CurlyJax - I somehow missed that you were vacationing without family. I hope you are able to recharge down there and get in plenty of self-care. And soak up those temps before you get back to the frigid cold.
FutureFitChick - Hope you're able to get some extra rest and get to feeling much better. My monthly meal plan is done by weeks, unlike my mom's, who did a full month on a piece of paper, drawn out with a ruler for the calendar boxes, and put it on the fridge. We never asked what was for dinner, because it was always visible. You knew what you could help with
Silverbirch - I didn't know that about hill sprints - good luck with it. I sure hope it works because it sounds a challenge. There is nothing resembling a hill anywhere near me. It's flatland. Maybe an interstate ramp? That's the only rise around here. I always love hearing about your meals. They're so different from what I prepare and I love learning!
Saturday - Veteran's Day - The Great War ends (1918, Compiιgne, France)
Diet Coaches/Buddies Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, with the only snack being some leftover apple slices after dinner. Lunch was the peanut butter sandwich; dinner was leftover grilled salmon. So it was a pescatarian day (thanks to Joy (gardenerjoy) for that word so I don't have to say 'no-meat-atarian').
Walked, CREDIT moi, past the construction that I'm following feeling disappointment that no progress has been made since the hole was dug in the back yard. They are failing in their obligation to amuse me on a daily basis. Walked briskly because it's getting chilly around here - 24 degrees F as I type. Helped DW bring the patio furniture to the basement. The last cherry tomato plants are pulled out and hard green tomatoes sit on the kitchen counter for whatever unknown purpose. Winter is getting serious. I'm caught up reading 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro by Henry Louis Gates Jr., 2017 (not to be confused with an earlier book of the same title). History is so easy to absorb in chunks of three pages.
Joy (gardenerjoy) Yep, "Breakfast Power Sandwich" is certainly good for you. Organized food pushers are the worst kind since they represent a good cause. Kudos for figuring out a sane response. [Not sure why Great Britain was designated the source of so many nursery rhymes in our heads. And do wonder if Brexit will change that.]
silverbirch R.I.P. lost post. Hope you haven't been hit by this burst of cold weather.
FutureFitChick Neat that you're feeling better - with the "shocking" side effect of some weight loss.
nationalparker Your frittata makes me drool. DW frequently does omelets for dinner; methinks I'll suggest that she upgrade to frittatas.
curlyjax - Yay for dolphins to amuse land bound humans. Kudos for recognizing that you should continue to stay in Florida for a break.
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 5 Week 1 - Get Ready: Lay the Groundwork
day 1Record the Advantages of Losing Weight
Face Reality!
Think about it: If your doctor gave you an antibiotic to get rid of a bad infection, would you take only half the pill? Of course not. Likewise, don't take shortcuts with this program. It's most effective if you follow it in its entirety.
Your Advantages Response Card is the first of many Response Cards you'll create to answer back to sabotaging thoughts. At the end of each day of this program, you'll create Response Cards to help carry out that day's task.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), Pg 60.
Last edited by BillBlueEyes; 11-12-2017 at 05:35 AM.
Reason: Typo
I stayed on plan yesterday, but it was a continuous struggle. I also struggled to make myself work through my to-do list. I finally named the problem as fatigue. The week had two late nights, one early morning, and the time change. No wonder I was dragging by Friday. Usually, the fall time change is helpful, but I think I worked through my extra hour.
I'm a day behind in my NaNoWriMo word count goal and a day behind on my monthly exercise minutes goal. That feels like the summary of my life at the moment.
Today probably won't help either -- we're taking a tour of the newest photography exhibit at the St. Louis Art Museum with the curator, who is the husband of a friend of mine (St. Louis is a small town).
I'll be doing good if I don't fall further behind today. So, that's the goal.
Tomorrow I'll plan my week, including a plan of how to catch up in small batches.
Weigh-in: -0.1 kg, Exercise: +30, 360/1200 minutes for November
curlyjax: I'm glad your vacation is doing what you hoped it would for you. It takes work to get veggies on vacation! I have to insist to myself, and sometimes to waiters, that I'm going to have veggies with my lunch and supper.
FutureFitChick: Some days defy planning. Having a plan helps me, anyway, because it makes it more likely that I'll do what you did -- execute a good alternative plan.
nationalparker: Good for you for being there for your friend who lost her mother. I think it really helps so much to share that raw experience with someone who has also been through it.
The change in topography in the Midwest always surprises me. We're nothing but hills around here. I was told by someone who studies topography maps that I live on the highest hill in our suburb. No matter where I walk, there's the steep hill up my driveway at the end.
silverbirch:
BillBlueEyes: I make green tomato sabji with my end-of-year tomatoes. The loss of that may be my greatest disappointment in not putting in a garden this year.
Yesterday went OK. I didn't have a lunch plan going in, and chose something not ideal. But, I left food on my plate. I was going to make chili yesterday, but got home late and we ended up ordering delivery. I have leftovers for lunch. Breakfast was an on plan portion.
Today we are diving in seriously on the basement. I have no idea how far we will get, as there is very little room to move things around right now. I am also starting a list of cuisine options for when we go to restaurants, so I can figure out options when I am not hungry or tired that fuel my body. It will be a project for a week or two.
Bill Blue Eyes, great job sticking to your plan, with only a healthy apple snack.
Gardener Joy, good luck catching your exercise minutes and NaNoWriMo. Do you know many people in the art world in St. Louis?
National Parker, I loved your sweet statement about always knowing what you could help with! Great idea about new advantage cards. I still need to update mine.
Up here in Tahoe. It is fall and beautiful. 26 degrees this morning warming to 50 and sunny. My goal is to finish one class' essays on Google Classroom and then as a reward hike the Rubicon trail. It is the most beautiful trail I have ever been on save one in Kauai. I have never done it by myself but it is well travelled and well marked. I just have to keep Lake Tahoe on one side. My goal is 7 miles roundtrip. We'll see what kind of shape I am in with the meds and all. Weight is two pounds from ticker. But again I am grateful to be tracking so I know that my food has been fine despite the 2.5 pound gain this week. I keep remembering the quote "by consenting to be bound I am free."
BBE: In the not too near future I will read books that are interesting instead of student papers that are less so. Maybe we can start a book club but i fear your penchant for non fiction will clash with my love of fiction.
gardenerjoy: Is St. Louis where Washington University is? A friend's daughter is starting as a freshman. I have been told the place has a great small town feel. The tuition is a startling 62,000 a year. Wow!
nationalparker and futurefitchick: I menu plan by listing meals. I don't assign a day. I usually have ten to twelve possible meals with all the ingredients necessary in the house. Then I decide depending on our crazy schedules the dinners that I feel like making for the next two days. Usually one will require defrosting. This also forces me to use up food when the list dwindles. I also don't over buy at the store because most weekly shopping trips are just for produce and milk.
curleyjax: Enjoy the ocean. i always miss it. I was raised in Malibu and the smell of the sea is very comforting.
Silverbirch: Waving as I imagine you sprinting up a hill.
Well, phooey - I tried a new recipe for white chicken chili and it's a dud. The chicken came out VERY tough (took me back to childhood and chewing a piece of meat forEVER because i had to eat a few pieces of meat before I would be excused). I'm trying to tenderize it a bit more but it's a tossup if it tenderizes or toughens more. I was counting on that for lunch tomorrow but unless it's markedly better, it won't be. DH grilled his steak and I made roasted Brussels sprouts for both of us, and I did a splurge recipe for him - roasted garlic mushrooms. He loved those, so that was a treat. Now we're relaxing by the crackling fireplace... cozy. I guess winter will be here soon. After dinner I made up a small recipe of chocolate chip cookies, planning on having one today and one tomorrow. It makes a dozen, which is doable for time and not having too many cookies left over. I joked to my sister that it was a 1950s day for me - marketing, laundry, cooking, baking, cleaning. Then I thought, heck, that'll probably be my retirement too. Or ... it's NOW! haha.
I wish we lived near the next generation in Florida - I like cooking and they are busy with careers and kids and like eating. It'd be nice to be able to do up extras and drop off. Meals, cookies, muffins, coffee cakes, whatever.
Bill - LOL at those construction folks slacking on their entertainment duty.
Maryann - Like you, I have a long listing and pick from that. I remember years ago when our college students would come to my office for ideas of what to cook to impress their girlfriend or boyfriend ... I'd give them a list of about 5-8 ideas with what they needed for each... then they'd come back and ask for more easy recipes with only a few ingredients. I wanted to write a first time from home cookbook and had started one without even knowing how to do it. Then abandoned it when the internet filled that space. My list before this food plan was much more extensive. I think I'm veering back to it.
GardenerJoy - I loved Missouri when I was visiting my friends in Aurora. I called my DH and said if we retired there, we'd be a car drive from so much more! Plus in their area, the property was fairly inexpensive, so I could imagine us buying close to friends
Sunday - Voyager I flies near Saturn (1980, Solar System)
Diet Coaches/Buddies Great eating day, CREDIT moi, even as I felt 'hunger' in the afternoon because I had something to do that I was delaying. I spent a short spell of time looking through some boxes trying to find motivation to begin some major release of clutter. I have multiple boxes from my work life that I assumed that I'd just love reviewing during retirement. Now that feels so long ago and far away. It'd be a crime for me to leave all this for my kids to sort through.
Not much exercise - it was cold outside. I did catch up with reading of Lewis and Clark as required for Monday's class. Getting news from Saint Louis - the far Western frontier of the country - to Washington, D.C. took weeks in 1805. Many folks thought the whole party had died since it'd been 28 months without hearing from them. The adventure now is to get the tale out to the American people before the Federalists (the party opposing Thomas Jefferson) ridicules the adventure for wasting money for no gain.
Joy (gardenerjoy) Yep, beware fatigue - it can creep up on you. [Had to go look for Green Tomato Sabji. It looks similar to the green tomato pickle relish of my childhood - except we didn't use a 'kadai'.]
FutureFitChick Always Kudos for "left food on my plate." Good luck with sorting through your basement. That's hard work.
maryann - Love the notion of having the Rubicon trail as a reward hike. Thanks for "by consenting to be bound I am free."
nationalparker Seemed like it wasn't going to happen this year, "I guess winter will be here soon." Hard to believe that you can make chicken un-tough - look forward to your report.
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 5 Week 1 - Get Ready: Lay the Groundwork
day 1Record the Advantages of Losing Weight
Face Reality!
If your doctor gave you an antibiotic
to get rid of a bad infection, would you take only
half the pill? Of course not. Likewise, don't try
to take shortcuts with this program.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), Pg 61.
My goal yesterday was to not fall further behind on my writing or exercise for the month. That turned out to be a remarkably de-motivating way of phrasing goals and I didn't achieve them.
Today, I'll think more about how to catch up over the next week. Spreading it out will seem a lot less daunting. It means I want to average closer to 50 minutes a day of exercise than 40. And, average about 2300 words a day instead of 2000. Both of those are very doable.
Weigh-in: +0.1 kg, Exercise: +15, 375/1200 minutes for November
FutureFitChick: I have some second-degree connections to artists in St. Louis. There's a fairly strong cross-over right now between artists and activists. If you're going to make art in St. Louis, right now, there's a fairly obvious topic to tackle.
maryann: Washington University in St. Louis is my alma mater. I also worked there as a librarian for a couple of years. Good school. And, outrageous tuition. It's very well thought of in our area. Graduates are employable in the way that other areas seek out Ivy League graduates.
nationalparker: Housing cost is definitely a good reason for moving to Missouri. It looks like Aurora is growing -- nicely positioned between Springfield and Branson. The small town where I grew up (Louisiana, Missouri) hit a population peak in 1970 and has been shrinking ever since. It's just a little too far from St. Louis to attract commuters.
Your plan of cooking for younger relatives in Florida sounds lovely, too.
BillBlueEyes: Good luck sorting through boxes. I kept the novel that my dad worked on his whole life and never finished (I wish he'd lived long enough for NaNoWriMo), but more mundane work papers went to the recycling center.
Thursday
to everyone. Have to go as the dough has doubled in size and it needs my attention.
Friday - Henry Stanley, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" (1871, Central Africa)
