Hi coaches- a couple of busy days. My son got a major case of poison ivy, poor guy, but he is being stoic about it. He is on meds for it since his body really reacts to it. I had my annual big party for work last night and it went quite well. I also went to the chiropractor yesterday which did seem to help. She said I am very twisted(!) I’m going for a massage today to help the pain, as I am really limping around. I need to get back to the PT as well, but it is such a production- first go to the doc for a referral, etc and its getting hard to fit in all these appointments.
Later today I also go shopping for DD’s college stuff. It is amazing how much junk they all bring, at least the girls! I’m a little worried about what we’re going to pack it all in.
Foodwise- need to start up again. Plan for today is leftovers from the party and cut up some veggies. I have been given a lot of cucumbers to use!
First work day left me with a sore back this morning. Not good. I did some exercises for it and sternly put away the fears the aching will linger. I will take many light trips today as I continue to move into my classroom. This episode brings up in my mind how fear often rules my life - especially now that I have stopped the anti anxiety meds. I try to comfort that fear with many things that do not serve me well - food, emotional shut down, and emotional outbursts.Here is a list of things that do serve me well and comfort me: meditation and prayer, going to a twelve step meeting, taking appropriate action, walking, talking to my husband, a warm heating pad. I will focus on the positives.
Scale is one pound below ticker. I have not weighed under 160 for a year and a half. I am two pounds away from that goal. Today I have eaten a OP breakfast. Lunch will be steamed veggies and an Aidell's turkey sausage, and dinner will be chicken and peppers. I will go to the gym for a least some stretches.
Curleyjax: Good luck in your restart. It is a long slow race. Every little positive decision gets credit. (I'm telling this to myself as well.)
Yesterday wasn't a great day food wise. I had a couple of beers and dh and I went out for dinner, but just shared a burger. We had coleslaw for a side, so that wasn't too bad either. After Crossfit my sister in law (who is here from WA) came over for a couple of hours with her grandkids who are 5 and 3. They swam in the pool and it was so fun. Laurie and I were in the pool with them, but they go in the deep end and wherever and swim like no tomorrow with no fear. Once we came back in the house the two of them and Otis had a big time running around playing. It's too hot outside for Otis to want to stay very long with his mostly black coat. All three of them were exhausted after their fun. When we got home from dinner a big storm was starting and we stayed outside and watched it until the rain was pelting us from the northeast. Ordinarily it doesn't blow into the patio like it did last night. Dh had to use the broom to sweep the water into the pool. I don't think it would have come in the back door, but it was definitely coming down. This morning there are still power outages, downed power poles and downed trees in some areas, but around my house you wouldn't even know it rained.
I'm taking the day off from the gym today but I'll do some core exercises from home. My project will be to work on more packing for my trip and then to the dentist at 1:00. I'm also listening to a book that I'm enjoying called The End of Your Life Book Club. I often choose audiobooks from those Available Now, so sometimes the choices aren't that great, but I'm enjoying this one.
Maryann I'm sorry to hear your back is sore especially because you were working on trying to ensure you didn't carry too many heavy things. I probably already said this but, my dh has some back issues and went to PT for 8 or so after our big hike in Palm Springs that just about did him in. At the end of PT the therapist recommended he put a pillow under his knees and sleep on his back. The pillow is called an Elevating Leg Rest Wedge Pillow. Dh says nothing has helped his back pain more than this pillow. On another note, good for you for being below ticker.
Curlyjax I hope you find a fix for your back pain soon too. Good luck with all the pre-college shopping for dd. Crazy what they think they need in those little tiny rooms. Of course the next thing is that they all need to move into an apartment.
Bill Your tale of DGD saying she has to go potty (congratulations by the way), reminds me of when we had some Vietnamese neighbors. They just moved across the street from us and only the mother knew much English. They had 4 little children and the oldest was 4, my sons age. They sent him to preschool with my son and the only phrase he knew was, "I have to go to the bathroom". Of course it wasn't long and he spoke English and taught all his sisters. I'll never forget it.
Silverbirch It sounds like you'll be getting a crown, or at least I hope it isn't any worse than that. I'll have to look up what kind of foods are served at a Ukrainian restaurant.
GardenerJoy How fun to see the new baby! When was she born?
Well I guess I'll get moving and get something done around here. You all have a great day.
The daily weights are still holding steady for several days, eating continues on plan, and I got my 3rd meetup bike ride in yesterday. That was the last of the slow, easy rides that particular ride leader was doing, so I need to push myself to continue on my own. My speed is not up to joining the regular group rides yet.
Food prep needs to happen since my "pizza rice" is now gone. Chicken is thawing in the fridge and I don't really have a go-to healthy chicken recipe yet. Still searching!
Karen, your comment about looking and feeling better the entire time of losing weight, not just at goal, is very true! Thanks for the reminder! The pool play and the storm sounds like a good time.
Bill, your DGD having a dry day reminds me how awesome it felt to be done with that phase of parenting. I'm sure you are appreciating again.
Curly, sorry about your son's poison ivy and your unresolved pain. You're a step ahead of me with the daughter going to college. My oldest is 17 and not sure what he wants to do yet.
Silver, the tooth crumbling sounds like one of my reoccurring nightmares! I hope it's fixed without too much trouble.
Maryann, sorry about the ongoing back pain and anxiety.
Two bad food days in a row. Tomorrow will not make it 3. I just can’t let myself get started with sweets.
My poison oak/sumac is still horrible. I went to the urgent car this evening and will start on prednisone in the morning. It’s been 11 days since this started and it’s just horrible. Curlyjax, I have great empathy for what your son is going through. Doctor told me to stay out of the sun as much as possible.
Yesterday was a lovely summer's day. Not too hot with fluffy white cumulus clouds and some high cirrus - typical here in the summer. The dentist put a stronger temporary filling in the crumbly tooth and I pressed forward with some work things. One step at a time. Food was poor after I got back from the dentist as it was long after my lunch time.
I plan to do at least some exercises this morning.
Beth, hope the rash clears up soon. Good luck with avoiding sweets today.
gardenerjoy, lovely you've met the great-niece and that her brother is feeling good about it all.
Penny, thinking of you out on your bike. It's such a fab thing to do.
karen, the children and Otis and the pool all sounds very exciting. Do you think that affected your eating?
maryann, I like your list of things that serve you well.
curlyjax, you're sounding very busy!
Bill, great news about the potty. I'd been wondering how it was going. Also great news about how the reading's going. She'll never look back.
Friday - The Grand Louvre palace opens as The Museum Central des Arts (1793, Paris)
Diet Coaches/Buddies – What a mistake! I assumed that a movie with Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, and Alec Baldwin had to be good. So, I set out to watch the DVD of It's Complicated. I only lasted the first hour before, despite being a marital event together, I bailed to go do something else. I so came to detest the sleazy Alec Baldwin character that I couldn't watch. And, I even detested the four-year-old boy which is difficult since I'm inclined to like kids in movies. I'm just not constructed to watch a chick-flick for two hours. I did enjoy every minute of Meryl Streep's facial maneuvers. After it was over, DW and I folded laundry together - a sacred time for discussions - and she filled me in on the details. I didn't mind hearing about the movie provided that I didn't have to watch Alec Baldwin being a jerk. Oh, well.
Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, with another lunch of a tomato sandwich and dinner on the patio of gazpacho. We only have gazpacho when it's from our garden tomatoes and cukes. I accidently did the hunger experiment the day before when we lost power during part of the morning. I'd showered in the dark (I've memorized where my arms and legs are so it wasn't difficult) and went down stairs just as the lights came back on. Slightly confused, I started reading the morning newspaper without pouring my cereal. Just forgot about it. Only recognized what I'd done as we were leaving to pick up the DGD. Naturally, I ate my cereal when we returned - but not from hunger, just because that was what I do. Great reminder to me that I eat from my schedule not from my body's signals.
Joy (gardenerjoy) – Congrats on your new great-niece - another human being in need of an aunt buying books. Smiling at the mention of reading to the great-nephew - such fun.
silverbirch – Magic to hear of a lovely summer's day after a heat spell. FWIW, today is the anniversary of the first time temps exceeded 100 degrees F ever in Kent - 101.3 F (38.5 Celsius) in 2003. Though you needed to know that, LOL.
maryann – Neat to plan to focus on the positives as part of the fight against back pain. Hope you get your full back to working soon.
Karen (karenrn) – Seems that when you guys do get rain, you get it all at once. Yay for kids with no fear of water.
curlyjax – Ouch for your DS's poison ivy - so debilitating. Good luck getting your DD supplied for college.
Beth (bethturnaround) – Wishing your rapid recovery with the itchy stuff. Being surrounded by home might just help.
Penny. – Neat that you've got the notion of pacing yourself for the bike rides.
Readers -
Quote:
day 12Practice Hunger Tolerance
Today's task will help you see that you can tolerate hunger and that it comes and goes. Today or one day very soon (you can choose what works best with your schedule), I'd like you to purposely skip lunch. (Don't do this if a medical condition, such as diabetes, requires you to eat regularly.) Doing so will help you realize that hunger is not an emergency. In fact, I think you'll find it's not nearly as uncomfortable a sensation as you now believe.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), Pg 121.
Yesterday was a good day. I was OP and my back feels better. KarenRn: I ordered that pillow thanks. For $30.00 it is totally worth trying out.
Credit for meditating, a salad for lunch and closing the kitchen after I had a few stray crackers.
silverbirch: I get very uncomfortable at the dentist. Good for you for going off to exercise. BBE: I also have to stop watching movies if I can't get past a character. I can't watch anything Adam Sandler is in . . . or James Bond. bleh! beth: Thinking of you and the poison ivy. That is just miserable. Be extra kind to yourself. This too shall pass. I am reinstituting the Beth Rule: No Sweets at Work. gardenerjoy: How wonderful to have little ones in your life!
I'm disappointed that I didn't see a loss, since I ate what I intended to eat. Rather than assume that my plan needs an overhaul, I'm going to assume that there was too much sodium and not enough water yesterday. Give it a day or two to work itself out.
Today's challenge is meeting someone for coffee at 1:30pm. I don't need food or caffeine at that moment, so my plan is an herbal iced tea.
Credits:
posted ten days in a row
followed my plan as written yesterday
Weigh-in: -0.05 kgs, Exercise: +25, 300/1200 minutes for August
Gardenerjoy, my weightloss always seems to be a few days of steady loss, followed by a long stretch of hovering around the same number. It's hard not to be disappointed! Good plan for the coffee outing. I clicked on your goal story link and it is very inspiring!
Last night, I took my two teens to a concert in the park, featuring a rock violinist. It was fantastic! I like to ride bikes to these concerts but we were sweating terribly in the heat, just getting our bikes out and prepped. I think it was near 100F. Last minute decision to drive instead.
Still at -10 pounds, but feel another drop is due soon.
Good morning coaches,
I've walked the dog, gone to Crossfit and finished shopping at Costco and the regular grocery store. Otis and I run into a guy every morning who pet sits. He usually has 2 or 3 dogs with him and Otis just loves to see all the dogs. It's fun to see him get so excited. He has a few bad habits, like jumping up on us, but he is a happy little well socialized pup. I was so disgusted this morning when I got on the scale to see my weight is up. When I got to the gym a gal who hasn't been there in 6 weeks or so told me I must be coming regularly and I'm looking great. Boy did I need that today. It totally erased the feeling I had from the number on the scale. I will soldier on as usual. I'm really enjoying listening to The End of Your Life Book Club. They talk about so many great books and I found the list of them on Goodreads. I'm sure there is a list in the printed book, but since I'm listening to an audiobook I don't have that. I always like to know about great books and there are so many. No big plans for the weekend, just fine tuning my packing. I'm sure I'll be taking more than I need, but since I'm driving it isn't a problem.
GardenerJoy I do think sodium and not enough water can be the culprits. I hope that was my problem too. I'm really going to push the water today also.
Maryann I hope your school year is starting off great and that you really enjoy your new position. I hope the pillow works for you even close to as well as it works for dh. He even has the added benefit of his shoulder not being sore from the way he slept before.
Bill Your tomato sandwiches are sounding so delicious. My problem is that I don't have any home grown tomatoes. We were hoping for more rain last night but it all hit Tempe (just south of us). They got 3.6 inches and lots of flooding. Too bad it couldn't have been spread around a little better than that. The good news is that it was 78 degrees this morning. It's beginning to feel like fall . . . ha ha.
Silverbirch I think what effects my eating is that I'm not very disciplined at times and I have too much time on my hands. I'll be glad to get on the road on the 22nd. I have rules about eating in the car and I will be careful about what I have available. Once I arrive most places I'll be busy with friends and family.
Beth I'm so sorry about your poison oak. That sounds just miserable. I hope the prednisone helps and quickly.
Penny Good for you for signing up and attending the Meet-up bike rides. I find it difficult to do things like that, but I'm always glad once I do. I continue to work on finding "active" friends, or trying to coerce friends into becoming more active.
Good morning. A day at the desk yesterday, working out in what order to take the steps remaining in the new bank accounts and new business adventures. I interspersed untangling things and taking one step forward at the desk with real steps and physical activity. The SO has been called away as his father is in hospital so today I'll take him to the station and reassess how the next few days look. I'd like to cut the grass but I think rain is on the horizon. Food wasn't too good yesterday.
karen, I agree about having too much time on one's hands affecting eating. I also find 'transition' times difficult - between one thing and another, like driving and then being in the house. Perhaps I should focus on that as it's a perennial problem for me. Thanks for making me see that again.
Penny, 100F sounds a bit hot to bike comfortably!
gardenerjoy, I like your thinking about your 1.30pm appointment. Did the iced herbal tea work out all right?
maryann, glad yesterday went well. I love the way you can close the kitchen. I have to walk through ours to get to the bathroom and the garden room.
Bill, these little things like memorlsing where your arms and legs are really come in useful sometimes, don't they? Well done for walking out of the It's Complicated DVD showing. Folding laundry sounds much better!
Saturday - The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, used by the Mayans, begins (3114 BC)
Diet Coaches/Buddies – Walk, CREDIT moi, included a long stop at the local brick and mortar bookstore to discover dozens of books I'd like to read that aren't even on my list. I even fell into a book on chess openings just to remind myself that I don't have time left in my life to become a Chess Grandmaster even though I am already convinced that e4 is the best opening move for white. Found Noisy Nora in the kids section and read every page nearly with tears remembering reading it dozens of times to my two kids years ago. Told DW about it. She found it for me on our shelf of old kids' books then read it aloud to me with now both of us nearly in tears. Our copy is smaller sized, of the worst kind of paper. She remembers that I bought it at a yard sale for 5 cents back when I'd buy stacks of books at yard sales to feed the insatiable appetite of my kids. Will give it a spin with the DGD next opportunity. Yay for filling the spong brains of our kids with fun books.
Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, including a slab tomato sandwich for lunch and cold salmon for dinner on the patio. Evening entertainment was DW reading from a page of Trust terms to see if we both understood how a Revocable Trust turns into an Irrevocable Trust when one dies. Discovered that the IRS has weird rules about what happens to any pre-tax money in a retirement account that gets left to kids. Have more homework to do. It shouldn't be so complicated.
Joy (gardenerjoy) – Coffee at 1:30 in the afternoon just doesn't work for me either.
silverbirch – Kudos for remembering to do some physical activity amongst your bank work. Hope all works out well for your SO's father.
maryann – Glad to hear there's progress with your back. Hope a weekend helps.
Karen (karenrn) – Kudos for accepting the compliment about looking in shape. Neat the Otis enjoys meeting the group of dogs being walked.
Penny. – Love the notion of a rock violinist concert. Hope the temperatures dropped down enough to enjoy it.
Readers -
Quote:
day 12Practice Hunger Tolerance
If you fear hunger, you might routinely eat to avoid the feeling. You might never have learned that it's okay to feel hungry, or you might never have developed skills to help you withstand hunger. Purposely skipping a meal will prove something to you: You definitely don't have to eat when you're hungry. Just because you want to eat doesn't mean you always should. This is one of the most important things you need to learn to lose excess weight and to keep it off!
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), Pg 121.
I didn't post this morning, but I don't want to mess up my streak.
Fortunately, I wrote a post in my head, so I weathered my biggest challenge of the day -- an Indian buffet. One plate of only vegetarian dishes. I nursed a second cup of chai when the 20-somethings of our group went back for seconds.
Credits:
posted eleven days in a row
Weigh-in: -0.05 kgs, Exercise: +25, 325/1200 minutes for August
silverbirch: I also have trouble with transitions--it always opens up a moment for a bad habit to spring in, like eating or Facebook. Which, of course, makes it prime territory for a good habit to develop. I'll have to think about what that might look like.
The iced herbal tea worked great -- it was yummy on a hot day and especially appropriate since we sat outside.
BillBlueEyes: It's time for us to revisit the estate plan stuff, especially since we didn't get it exactly the way we wanted last time. Also to look at whether there are more things that it makes sense to convert to Roth to make it a better inheritance for the niece and nephews.
Also, a good reminder to do my Required Minimum Distribution from the IRAs I inherited from my parents.
Friday - The Grand Louvre palace opens as The Museum Central des Arts (1793, Paris)
