Quick post to say that I'm on the mend but still not out of the woods. Fatigue is awful after doing very little, and now I have a slight cough. The chills have mostly gone. I try to do a little more every day but not overdo it. After a week or so of not really eating my insides have been a bit mixed up. I've been eating more or less properly for a few days now and I think things are better in that department. Exercise - none apart from splitting a couple of logs yesterday.
Hope to be able to post more tomorrow. Thinking of you all.
Ange, welcome.
Last edited by silverbirch; 02-12-2018 at 02:53 AM.
Monday - Naturalist Charles Darwin born (1809, Shrewsbury, England)
Diet Coaches/Buddies – Was composed enough to make yesterday's outing - and what an outing it was. The Boston Museum of Fine Arts joined with Boston Lyric Opera to present The Bard, the Diva, and the Showman. I didn't know about Jenny Lind, the Swedish Nightingale, so I was surprised as well as outrageously entertained. P.T. Barnum and Walt Whitman spoke their parts until interrupted by the glorious operatic singing of Jenny Lind. Just so much fun. Unexpectedly fun to bump into two friends; I always assume that I couldn't possibly know someone in a public concert in the Big City. An Escher exhibit was current at the MFA so my Geek side got a whole room of tessellations to enjoy as well. A terrific way to spend a rainy afternoon.
Eating wasn't on plan; snacks were just too large and too often. I missed that we skipped our standard Sunday walk due to the rain.
onebyone – When your DH returns to work, things should indeed begin to feel like normal again. [I agree; the human population load on the planet squeezes everything.]
Joy (gardenerjoy) – Neat to come home hungry after lunch with a friend - instead of coming home stuffed.
silverbirch – Splitting a couple of logs sounds like exercise to me. Glad that you're on the mend.
maryann - Love the calm way that you deal with "Martha."
nationalparker – Ouch for the frustration of having to find a wardrobe for your big week. Kudos for thinking about it this far ahead. [Had to google "brachycephalic dogs" - the word sounds ugly all on its own.]
Beth (bethturnaround) – Super Kudos for sitting through a family lunch without digging into the food. Yay for a family that provides loving support.
ange82much - Kudos for recognizing your own three-year cycle and for seeing where your extra calories come from. That's a really good start. Calories counting sounds like a good plan when a lot of traveling is involved. Glad that you've joined us.
Readers -
Quote:
day 5Eat Slowly and Mindfully
How to Notice What You're Eating
Here are some tips to help you concentrate:
Train yourself to eat with some distractions. It's best to minimize distractions when you eat by refraining from reading, watching TV, or using the computer. While this is a desirable goal, I've found most people just won't do this long term. Even if you aren't engaging in one of these activities, you're bound to get distracted if you eat with other people and carry on a conversation.
Try eating without distractions for just a few meals until you really master the skills of eating slowly and fully noticing what you eat. Then incorporate these skills into your normal eating conditions. Whenever you find that you've eaten too quickly or mindlessly, try to eat the next meal without distraction to sharpen your skills.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), Pg 80.
Thanks for the welcomes! I think it was just another poster in another forum that must've referenced that 'Beck' was a psychological approach, not a food-diet, which interested me and reminded me that i'd seen the section here at 3FC before. From there I just looked it up, both on this site and browsing generally, and then within about 20min got the book downloaded to my kindle, which I read yesterday!
I started my diet the first week of January (me and 50 million others) and i'm still in the enthusiastic phase, so now is a good time to learn a few things to help for when i'm not so motivated. I have a stubborn streak (just ask DH), so i'm not bad at saying no and meaning it, both to myself and others, but it clearly doesn't work well enough otherwise I would be back here for the third time...!
Yes, calorie counting is working well so far. I've been super strict at home, but obviously have to guess a lot whilst travelling. Measuring everything at home certainly gives me a better chance of guessing better when I don't know ingredients or have a scale to hand. Amazed how calorific red meat is really. Sigh.
Last edited by ange82much; 02-12-2018 at 05:47 AM.
Saturday, I spent a fabulous afternoon bargain hunting. I bought about fifteen pieces that really made sense in the context of my wardrobe including a pair of pants that will take me through work until I lose the five pounds that allow me to wear my other pants. For fun I downloaded the free app Closet. it was a few hours loading my clothes into it but then it made possible looks. There were several I hadn't thought of pairing. I became a little compulsive so on to more productive pursuits. Just the number of possibilities is fun - up to 60 outfits with just five pairs of pants and skirts. Oh well. Some people watch tv. I mess around with clothes. Later I will add accessories when I have sometime to kill.
i did not do as well on Sunday emotionally as I would think. I was anxious and discontent. We took family out to Mexican food and I made excellent choices but had to face the sodium pounds this morning. I still feel unstable. It is noon now. My best thoughts are to drink my smoothie after my walk. Then I'll do a few appts. and in the evening I will put a few hours in on homework.
Dinner is planned.
Welcome, Angie. Food for me is not the problem. It is only the symptom of behavior issues.
Thank you all for continuing to checkin. You really help.
Posting at my mid-afternoon "I'm hungry" time. Part of me thinks that I'm way too hungry to fix this with a giant salad. So, I'm reminding myself that a giant salad is surprisingly filling. And, so is an apple. So if the giant salad doesn't work, I'll have fruit an hour or two later. That will be plenty to get me through until supper.
Scale fell 2lbs overnight which was a positive boost this morning. Today I continue to improve my food choices but can do much better. Still. I will take a credit for staying and struggling to stay on the wagon.
I had a normal day at the potters' guild. I met up with my friend Hendrik. We made a pact to learn to throw pots in the wheel. I made weird lopsided stuff that I happily destroyed. Hendrik too just made cylinders and then ran the cutting wire through them to examine the construction of the walls and the bottom. Pottery wisdom suggests that in order to throw well a novice should throw 100 pots and cut them apart to see what they are like before they ever make a lot that is kept. I have probably 90 more to do! Lol.
Long day tomorrow so I'm going to start to wind down now.
BTW, I read The Diet Trap Solution, which I believe is the most recent book?
Having posthumously looked at some reviews of it, it seems like happily I probably picked the book that suits me best for the moment (i'm not after a food plan, and I've already started the dieting).
Which book have you all read, or which do you think is the most useful?
Today was just an ordinary day. Weighed (no change), checked sugar (finally down), drank lots of water. Didn't exercise.
I think Diet Traps might be my favorite of her books. It does wake in me the sense that I don't feel "good" or "bad" based on what I eat. I get results or don't based on the choices I make, but I just don't "feel bad" about my choices. My response cards don't say "I'll feel bad"--because I won't.
To be more useful to me, I reword my thoughts and decisions in terms of results I will and won't get--I won't improve my blood sugar or cholesterol, I won't decrease my blood pressure--I want to be more limber, I want my face to be thinner, I want to fit into my smaller wardrobe, I want to improve my health.
(I ought to write an advantage card of how many more clothing options I could fit into a suitcase if I were a size 8 and not a 20)
Oh--one other thing--I made an appointment with a dietitian to discuss how I'm going to handle my week in Mexico next month. We're staying in two different places and I want to be sure I'm prepared to handle one meal out per day. The other 4 meals, I'll stick with my product--or perhaps only 3 products per day. I really have to force myself to eat my evening bar.
wow bethturnaround, I can tell i'm a beginner and you're not, you've obviously processed the thinking well. Pretty sure i'd still feel bad if I over indulged, and use the word bad, but I like your thinking better, it's definitely a way of not beating yourself up for mistakes. Not really with you on the more=better packing scenario though - sneakers, jeans and a t-shirt is fine for every occasion isn't it?!!
I met the postie yesterday who told me he'd had the flu and it had lasted two weeks. That, plus my sister's experience, made me feel better. I've got till about Friday to recover so I'll just relax into it. Blood oranges have been brought in which might help. Yesterday's new thing was a tummy upset. Although I think I may have had that the day before as well. I'm really out of practice at being properly ill.
Ange, one of my lesser known desires is to look good in jeans. I don't think I've ever managed it.
Beth, no, I don't feel bad either. Credit! I like the way you've reworded things to suit you.
onebyone, credit that you're here!
gardenerjoy, great work with the giant salads! Are they always the same or can you find enough time to make them different?
maryann, much credit for 'dinner is planned'. It is here too. We are having minestrone, like we did yesterday.
Bill, too large and too frequent snacks - ouch. Better luck today. I saw a pic of some tessellated rhubarb in readiness for a tart the other day. Very nice. It's time for forced rhubarb here.
Diet Coaches/Buddies – It was a long day with two classes and an evening event. The good news about classes is that I can't eat while doing them. The challenge for the evening was spending two hours around a coffee table laden with good stuff to eat. I did OK.
My major goal all day was to avoid sounding like a sick man. Folks are sensitive to thoughts of 'The Flu' and scrunch their faces if a walking dead person sounds like they're transmitting it. I must be getting better since I made it through all three events.
onebyone – That's a lot of pots to throw. If the wheel was turned by walking on a treadmill, you'd be set for exercise for the day.
Joy (gardenerjoy) – Fruit and salad sounds like a good plan.
silverbirch – Had never heard of tessellated rhubarb. Escher, himself, would be aghast. Two weeks seems to be the duration of everything. Glad that you see the light at the end of the tunnel.
maryann - You certainly make preparing clothes sound fun.
Beth (bethturnaround) – Thanks for the reminder, "I want to be more limber." I'm jealous every time the DGD twists herself about with ease.
ange82much - I love The Diet Trap Solution - the Blue Book. But I happen to like all three; I just skip the recipes in the Green Book.
Readers -
Quote:
day 5Eat Slowly and Mindfully
solve problems
It can be difficult to eat slowly and mindfully when you have a lot of responsibilities to fulfil. Here are suggestions for some specific, difficulties (ask a friend for help with other problems).
The Kids. There are lots of nice things about family life, but eating in a relaxing atmosphere is often not one of them. It's easy to lose track of what you're eating and how you're eating when you have to pay attention to small children. Some of the dieters I work with alternate supervision with their spouses or partners. You might want to try this strategy, too.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), Pg 81.
Quick check in. I am feeling pretty low this morning. But up and out the door to school. Multiple lunches prepped for the week will go into the school fridge. Acting my way into right thinking.
CREDIT for ordering a salad and a cup of soup at an unfamiliar lunch place. CREDIT for getting groceries on the way home (since I can't keep fixing giant salads without continually procuring lettuce). CREDIT for taking advantage of my favorite salad bar to fix this afternoon's salad -- that will make it really easy to stick to my plan. EXTRA CREDIT for ignoring all the many things that the grocery store thinks I should eat just because Valentine's Day is this week.
silverbirch: Right now I seem to be resistant to changing my salads. It's not just time, it's that if I'm going to eat the same thing every day, there's something comforting and comfortable about it being the same thing. I often switch to cabbage salads in the winter, but that hasn't happened yet. Cabbage is unusually plentiful and cheap here around St. Patrick's Day, so maybe I'll make that transition for a while in the next few weeks.
ange28much: The Green Book works best for me, although I only tried that food plan briefly. I liked how the process was structured early in the book.
I pushed the 'snooze' on my watch several times but did go to the gym and walk the track tonight. Credit for that!
I'm 5 weeks into my program now and my weight loss has been slower than I'd expected, but my blood sugar is finally into an acceptable range. I've been checking them both daily, so that's a big win.
I have follow ups with the doctor and dietitian tomorrow, and I'll ask about my progress. I'm trying not to be discouraged, because I am losing, but with a VLCD I expected it to be a bit faster.
joy: Sometimes something just seems to be a comfort, doesn't it?
Welcome ange82much
