So grateful!! didn't lose power or heat this time. We did get close to 2 feet of snow i think. thank goodness for DS who helped me shovel. I spent part of yesterday looking at battery operated snowblowers. We only have a four car driveway so not too big, and in a couple years DS will be in college, so it could be a good idea. We've never had a snowblower and I don't want to deal with a gas one.
They cancelled the water aerobics for tonight (many schools are delayed 2 hours ) so i will force myself to get some kind of exercise in. I did break down and bake pumpkin bread with chocolate chips but back to healthier eating today!
silverbirch: I swear by the special stay fresh container for fruit and veggies.
BBE: I wish class would spend equal time to what is right in the judicial system. We are so blessed in comparison to other countries. A student reported on the incredible corruption and inefficiency of India. She claimed it was holding India back from becoming a major world player. true enough.
A couple of good solid OP days behind me. Food logged. exercise last night although I was dead tired. Weight at ticker. I would like to get back to no sweets at work rule.
Just having my lunch. It's a huge salad with lettuce, chicory (endive), grated carrot, salmon and cottage cheese. French dressing made by me yesterday.
I think I may have turned a corner as I woke yesterday to just a little bit more energy. Let's see. I'm certainly not counting my chickens before they're hatched.
Glad you snow-bound people have power. 2' is such a lot to deal with. Stay warm, have soup, put on another jumper. It will soon be spring. Ah! You're on summer time already over there, I think. The irony.
maryann, do you cut your F&V up before putting in the special container?
orange123, welcome to our corner. Looking forward to what you have to say.
Wave to everyone. Have to go as I'm at work and work beckons.
Well, DH is very late tonight, getting home from work. He does not like working overtime and a week ago a memo went out, saying before any overtime is worked for the week, there must be prior approval. He thought that might help him not have to work OT. Maybe it just means he'll work a half day on Friday, which he'd like. Red beans and rice with chicken andouille sausage for dinner. I had a veggie laden lunch so not worrying too much about adding much to this one-bowl dinner. Maybe French cut green beans with balsamic. This can keep on cooking lightly and just gets a bit softer, not dry, so that's good. Put the recipe in WW and have ample points for it today.
Bill - You Mass. folks just roll with those snow dumps ... here, even though we get snow, they'd not get out ahead of it and it'd stall our city bigtime. And with all of the semis driving through the city going crosscountry, there would be massive wrecks. it happens every single time, yet they never lower the speed limit or figure out how to not have them flip on the exit ramps every single week.
SilverBirch - I realize I never replied to your inquiry on cutting veg on the weekend. I only cut up carrots into sticks, and then store them in a container of water in the fridge. Then I grab a handful to go along with my lunch most days. Like you, I don't like veggies drying out. I use the green bags that are supposed to lengthen the time the food is fresh (and they really seem to work on the veggies I use them with). I should chop up several onions every weekend because I go through about 6 large onions every week. And our large are LARGE.
OneByOne - Are you still here and I'm just missing your checkins? How are you doing?
Maryann - How did your students handle the walkout today? And your school?
Our DS is 4.5 yo. I'm working through the book again and am on Day#6, Find a Diet Coach. I've asked my partner, but would greatly appreciate your collective support as well.
My lifetime highest weight is 223.4 lbs reached 1/18. My goal is 130 lbs.
Thursday - The ides of March: R.I.P Julius Caesar (44 B.C., Rome)
Diet Coaches/Buddies – Exercise was chase the (29-month old) DGD day, CREDIT moi. She came in from a stint of chasing her grandma around in circles in a path in the snow with, "I had so much fun." This thing about becoming a social animal continues to amaze me. Additional exercise was shoveling the end of our driveway set up by a snowplow. Then shoveling the end of my DD's driveway so she could go to work and leave us with her DD. Finally, a walk to the drugstore for an errand. A good day.
Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, but with an extra evening snack. I spent a big chunk of time washing the printhead of my HP printer - per instructions in a random YouTube video. It still doesn't print. A new cartridge is in the mail; I await patiently. More honestly, I just await.
silverbirch – Yay for a tad more energy - you're on your way.
maryann - [Thanks for the reminder that we are blessed to have the robust and fair judicial system that we have. We do need to tweak its systemic biases.]
nationalparker – Drooling over your "Red beans and rice with chicken andouille sausage."
curlyjax - Good luck on your snow blower quest. When I was looking a few years ago, the battery ones were not reviewed as powerful enough for New England snows.
orange123 - Yep, we'll be glad to be your collective Diet Coach and ask that you serve that role for us. From the perspective of my DGD, your 4.5 yo DS seems like a bigger kid.
Readers -
Quote:
day 6Find a Diet Coach
what are you thinking? Are you having sabotaging thoughts about lining up a diet coach? Check to see if any of these thoughts are familiar and use the helpful responses as guides to creating Response Cards for yourself.
Sabotaging Thought: What if I get a diet coach and then fail? He or she will think poorly of me. Helpful Response: If I pick the right person, I'll maximize my chances of success. I'm not going to choose a diet coach who will view me negatively just for trying.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), Pg 88.
Happy Weekend Eve! Work was busy and flew by today! Dinner was leftover from last Friday (!!) with plenty of sniffing on my end to make sure it was still good. I kind of forgot about it. On plan today - weigh in tomorrow ... not expecting much since I've been weighing in the mornings and it's been holding steady. Darn it. But I guess it's better than going up. No, I know it's better. I didn't get enough sleep last night at ALL.
Bill - I join you in frustration at printer cartridges. We bought a new printer last year because it was cheaper than the ink cartridges that we needed to buy ... and the replacements are cheaper for this one than the last.
Today was harder for me than days have been. I was hungry. I was hungry a fairly significant amount of the day--about an hour at a time, 3 different times.
I know I'm only on 800 calories a day so it makes sense that I'm hungry, but I haven't been. Usually, I notice I'm hungry and it's 5-10 minutes until my alarm goes off to tell me to eat. There are days I don't get hungry at all and have to force myself to go eat my product. I survived it (hunger is not an emergency) and I stayed the course, but it threw me for a loop.
So, at one point I called my BFF and told her what I was telling myself and she told me the same things, and I repeated them to myself a couple of times today. And drank more water!
I had a meeting tonight with pizza. The pizza smelled delicious. It only looked mediocre--I have high pizza standards and I don't know how mediocre pizza can survive in downtown Chicago. I was going to try and get away from the smell, but I reminded myself that I get to enjoy the smell without eating. I can make the smell the enjoyable part. So I enjoyed the smell of pizza and didn't eat any.
nationalparker: Good luck at your weigh in tomorrow.
BillBlueEyes: I've lost track of how many printers I've gone through. (I've never gotten a printer to start working again by washing the printhead. I've tried; it's just never worked). I love hearing about your DGD!
orange123: Although my DH adores me, he is a lousy diet coach. (I'd tell him that to his face.) I have all of you, I have my BFF, and my kids are grown, so I have them. It's funny how it works that people offer and get support in different ways.
silverbirch: Your salad sounded good. I enjoyed the salads I ate in Mexico. That is something I'm looking forward to eating again! I know what you mean about the incredible snow. Chicago gets that sometimes but we haven't this year--we got less than an inch when Boston got slammed again.
maryann: "No sweets at work" really worked for me. The rule was "no unplanned snacks at work". So, I could eat the 3:00 snack I brought with me every day, but that was my only choice. Everything else was disallowed, no matter whose birthday it was (even mine!). Congrats on a couple of OP days!
curlyjax: What about an electric snow blower? I would think that'd be more powerful than battery. Hopefully, you are done with the heavy snow for the season.
Friday - Robert H. Goddard launches 1st liquid-fuel rocket (1926, Auburn, Mass)
Diet Coaches/Buddies – Didn't wait for the printer cartridge coming in the mail; I offed to Staples and bought one there. The problem is that I have to print an IRS 1099 form to take to our accountant. Spent a serious chunk of time trying, again, to clean the print head using a 'secret' formula from a YouTube video. The secret was . . . Windex with ammonia and isopropyl alcohol. Felt like a chemist in the kitchen. DW brought down the tiny eye dropper from her stereo microscope. Never got it to work. I emailed the (rather private) form to my next-door neighbor who gladly printed it for me. I'm headed away for the weekend, but I'll devote more time next week. If I can't make it work, methinks I'll buy any brand printer that isn't Hewlett Packard. This printer's desire to chat with me about its opinion of the cartridges I put in it is getting too much. I only use GENUINE HP cartridge, but it declares from time to time that I've probably put in a refill and should contact the merchant for a refund. Then chats some more that I've lost the potential award from HP for using their genuine cartridges. Took my walk, CREDIT moi, to include the ATM at the bank. Fresh cash in my pocket should calm the mind.
For all of this, I decided that a double evening snack was the proper Helpful Response. Ouch. It didn't make the blocked print head work. "But I had a light dinner," he said self-deceptively. I'll see you guys when I post again on Monday when I return from the weekend.
nationalparker – Yep, holding steady is just fine. [What printer did you buy? Do you recommend it?]
Beth (bethturnaround) – It's just amazing that you can focus your mind on enjoying the smell of pizza without indulging - Kudos. That's certainly low enough caloric intake to induce hunger.
Readers -
Quote:
day 6Find a Diet Coach
what are you thinking? Are you having sabotaging thoughts about lining up a diet coach? Check to see if any of these thoughts are familiar and use the helpful responses as guides to creating Response Cards for yourself. . . .
Sabotaging Thought: I don't want to impose on someone. Helpful Response: First, whomever I select as my diet coach will probably consider me worth the trouble. Second, serving as my support person probably isn't as burdensome as I might believe. Third, the process might well bring us closer together. Many people feel honored to serve as support to someone else. Finally, I can at least give someone the choice of whether or not to help me.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), Pg 88.
Silverbirch: I do cut the veggies before I put them in a container. It is amazing how much longer they last. I even wash and cut up my salad greens so I can have to go salad for lunch.
Orange:123 I started posting here when I had an 8 year old. I had grown over 200 pounds with my DS. This place works. I haven't had to regain anything for 8 years. That is pretty nice.
nationalparker: My school had a voluntary ceremony honoring the dead for 17 mins. I stayed in the class with those who didn't participate. Gun control is a highly controversial topic in this ag town so the Principal could not make participation mandatory. Interesting.
Weight is at ticker. Stretched in front of the tv with some free weights. That is exercise for two weeknights which is a big deal.
OK - reached the point of "why the heck bother" with a weigh in gain of nearly a pound despite being on plan. This is the slowest rate ever for me. Barely moving forward net loss. SO ... ate way more than I needed to today. Skipped the donut Friday though, for a small credit. Also had a very small dinner, eating nearly all points earlier in the day. Just reaching the point of thinking that the fixation on counting and focus on all of these points - is a waste of time. BUT I cruised through nearly half of my weekly points today - the day I restarted. Tomorrow is pizza (out) at DH's request and I'm OK with that bc it's been a month since we went to our little spot. I do start with a large salad and we don't order a large - just one for 1-2 people. But already in my mind, this coming week is ruined already.
Plan for tomorrow: up and on the exercise bike (freezing rain and snow here expected, so staying in) ... have fruit and healthy options. Just be mindful and on track.
Beth - I'm with you on the DH being a great match but not a great support coach. Mine keeps saying how much he loves me no matter what weight I am. And that he loves a woman with curves, etc. To be honest, I think if I weren't working I'd be less stressed about it. Still focused, but less stressed.
Huge success today: My size 20 jeans were baggy and I kept pulling them up. I thought, well, I have some jeans a size smaller. They didn't fit the last time I tried them on, but I thought they'd fit when I hit about 210. I was 209 this morning. So I switched jeans. The 18s fit perfectly. I feel so much trimmer in pants that fit.
I've got to see how many pairs I have and clean out my closet of the ones that are now too big. I know I have 3 pairs of size 18 jeans--one tan, one black, and one blue. I should have more, though--I need to check the bin in the basement and see if those fit, too. Also need to see how many pairs of dress/work pants fit, just in case I need them (I wear jeans every day so I don't usually need them.)
Products on plan today. I've been weighing and checking my sugar every morning, and taking my meds as prescribed.
We went to the mall to get the batteries replaced in our iPhones. We went by some delicious-smelling restaurants and I reminded myself that I get to enjoy the smells as much as I want. BBQ and Asian--both smelled wonderful. And then I came home and had one of my shakes.
nationalparker: One day at a time. It's hard, though.
maryann: Can you share a link to the stay fresh containers you're referring to?
BillBlueEyes: Hope you're having a great weekend away! (I don't think double snacks ever solve printer problems.)
Morning. I haven't got much to say but I thought I'd post anyway.
The wind is strong and snow is forecast (though not too much here). I have to go shopping soon and get the car ready for the MoT (annual check for roadworthiness).
Food - not too bad but could be better. Exercise - quite good. Managed a full body workout yesterday. Would like to have a walk today but the wind is strong and cold. Sleep - fitted in 11 hours yesterday so should, theoretically, be feeling better than I am.
Bad week here in various ways. I am way out of control with eating and the house is a mess. I need to rein it in.
I'm thinking of moving some things around and changing how my bedroom looks, in the hopes that will cheer me up a bit.
I'm also addicted to that bad Easter candy. At least after Easter there is no holiday for a long time that involves candy!
the only credit I can give myself is I keep getting out of bed and functioning instead of curling up into a ball and staying put Beth- I am impressed with your being able to just enjoy smell of food and not eat it.
Nationalparker- I love it that your DH loves a woman with curves! Gives me hope. When I am ready I would like to have a man in my life again, and it will have to be one who accepts me as I am, excess weight and all!
I am very happy for the weekend. The household feels like it is in a constant state of motion - oh, that is because it is. DS has multiple track meets and musical performances and AP courses. My goal is to be his support team like that group of men who run out in NASCAR at every pitstop. I have a little bit of grief in this new role. For a long time I was play partner and activities director for that kid. But I also am so grateful to be a part of his life. We have a good relationship and still have great talks.
Still, I thrive on stillness and quiet. Plenty of days ahead for that, though.
So for today:
I have eaten a healthy breakfast and will pack snacks for the track meet.
I will walk the bleachers if possible. It looks like rain so I I will do whatI can.
I will have one smoothie and one salad today.
Happy St. Patrick's day
beth: I bought my boxes 15 years ago ( literally) but the Debbie Meyer boxes on Amazon look like they maybe the ones I have. not sure. nationalparker: It feels so unfair to do so much work and practice so much restraint for such slow progress. But what is the alternative? To stop working so hard means I will leap up in weight. I know. It always happens. In the serenity prayer it says to accept the things I cannot change and to change the things I can (paraphrase). I think about that many times a day.
Thursday - The ides of March: R.I.P Julius Caesar (44 B.C., Rome)
