Greetings from Urbana, Illinois. It is a cool, rainy 70 degrees which beats the 104 degrees in Claremont, California yesterday. Touring U of I tomorrow. Food has been a challenge and I can’t weigh but I have tried to stick to “no eating standing up while eating” and reading my advantage cards. I have had a cold so exercise has been walking college campuses. Cool here. Tomorrow is Purdue and Friday is seeing Hamilton for DS bday. I’m glad I have just enjoyed vacation and not stressed about food. But I don’t want to have another five pounds to lose so there is a balance,
I'm overdue for a checkin. I've been making really poor choices, but remind myself I'm still down 60 lbs from where I was a year and a half ago. I've been 20 lbs lower than I am right now, though--and gained that much back. Permanent changes are so hard. I'm giving myself credit for not letting it go further, at any rate. I'm still not sure what the right approach is for me right now. We're going on vacation in a couple of weeks and that will have its own challenges. I need to find a way to balance that I just like and want to eat with the choices I need to make for my health and mobility and vanity. This is possible--people do it--that means it's do-able and I can do it.
Thursday - NASA's Pioneer 10 the 1st man-made object to leave the solar system (1983)
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Exercise was chase the (3.5 yo) DGD day, CREDIT moi. That included one (rare) time of being asked to lift her up because she was tired. And because the competition to see into the giant coral reef aquarium at the New England Aquarium was steep - there were a zillion tourists there. She runs about as if it were her place, making us very happy. She petted the Rays in the petting tank. Talk about an awful existence - being put in a tank for the kids of the world to pet. Scene she liked most: the FREE display of common Harbor Seals at the entrance. They grab everyone. Wish I was that agile in the water. Was glad that I've paid for Family Membership so didn't have to pay the $84 to get the three of us in. Also got to ride the merry-go-round on the Rose Kennedy Greenway - an exceptionally beautiful chunk of land in the middle of Boston.
Eating was good enough, CREDIT moi. Once more, dinner on the patio in perfect weather. No snacks when out with the DGD because I didn't pack any. A California Navel Orange for evening snack. Don't know how much longer we'll have these; I think of them as a winter crop.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Yep, starting with a plan is stellar.
maryann - Waving back toward Urbana, Illinois. You and your DS must certainly sing Arlo Guthrie's "City of New Orleans" as it comes barreling through. College campus walking is real exercise.
curlyjax - Yay for the decrease in the cost of something - especially health insurance. Kudos for "Baby steps."
Beth (bethturnaround) - Kudos for remembering to cherish the sixty pounds. Yep, it's doable.
Penny. - Yep, 900 Calories is not enough - particularly if you just happen to have a life with work, household, and three kids. Bribing kids is an old and honorable parenting technique. Whatever works.
Readers -
Quote:
Day 30Stay in Control When Eating Out
Plan to Eat Out
Here's what you should do to get ready: . . .
Go with a friend. Choose someone whom you know won't try to push food on you. Perhaps you should go with your diet coach.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), Pg 214.
Had a lovely massage yesterday, I am definitely going to budget that in for each month or every other month. I've started doing my morning hip stretches again, and its so wonderful to have my hip back to its normal pre shot self! Choir was challenging in a good way yesterday. I like being friendly with people but as an introvert find it somewhat anxiety producing to be beside someone that comments a lot. I'm going to arrive early next time and sit next to one of the quieter people. All these social intricacies that are constantly going on!
I have no plans for dinner tonight or tomorrow which isn't good. I seem to have run out of ideas mid week, oops. When both kids are in college i am going to make a meal for myself that lasts a week so i don't have to think about it! Beth- good for you for checking in. 60 pounds is so much, you should be very proud of yourself for that! I keep going back and forth with the same 5 pounds and going nowhere. Penny- glad to know i'm not the only parent who bribes! Its so funny how each kid is so different.
This past weekend's steamroller printmaking event went great. I was able to print my 3 prints plus my 2 tshirts. A 5ton, 1924 Buffalo Springfield Steampowered Steamroller is a sight to behold! Ed, the certified driver, was great. I was glad he was great as how many steampowered steamroller drivers, who are certified, are out there? We are lucky Ed is good and can eyeball a sheet of wood laying on the ground, with our inked up woodblock carving beneath it and a flimsy piece of paper on top of the woodblock, (which took about 20 minutes to ink up); Ed can eyeball it and drive right over it squishing everything including and especialy the ink onto the paper = a woodblock print. Fabulous. I will do it again in October with the same group.
Food that day was good. On plan etc. Even when I got home. But Sunday, after no rest and an extra early start at my Sunday market, well when I was heading home I stopped at a fast food place. I ate in the car. This has now become a bit of a habit which I have never done prior to this year! I need to stop it. I ate out of sheer fatigue. mental and physical and I had yet another thing to do which was load the kiln at the potters guild, then I could go home. I was frustrated and tired. I did it all but I ate and ate at home. And Monday was worse. I sought out my favorite food and ate and ate. Scale went up and up. It is now coming down again as I have been OP since Monday evening.
And this is exactly what my past year looked lie. Losing it on the weekends when I do the markets. Thats May to October. I really really need a better way. A strategy and some hard and fast rules for eating on the days I have the market and the days I have summer shows and the days right AFTER the events. This is the "I made it through" eating cycle that is equally dangerous.
Organizing my meals, with a written plan, cooking and planning and even portioning ahead of time is what is needed I think. Exercising the resistance muscle and having a lists of alternatives to eating unplanned food is also important.
Of course, the top of this to do list is to do it.
I will start planning this week's food today.
Any other thoughts and ideas are welcome. I can't change my schedule though. Not sure my eating would improve even it it did lighten up.
It's been really hot for us outside, in the 90s, but our two window ACs have been doing a great job!
I have to join a couple of you with the issue of aches and pains. It's so ridiculous but my tailbone/sacrum is jutting out and to one side making it difficult to sit. I first noticed something was wrong when I had to balance on the bone while doing those V crunches at the gym. Now my neck and shoulder are getting tweaked from sitting wrong.
I discovered a Youtube video with some PT exercises for it, and ordered a special cushion. I'll try the diy stuff before real butt PT. lol
Beth, I was thinking about you. Good to see your check in.
Onebyone, I'm glad the steamroller print event went well. Maybe a batch cooking and boxing up for the week day would help.
Bill, DGD has the best days with you guys! Credit for on plan eating.
Joy, shopping completed is a big credit!
Maryann, it sounds like a nice trip with your son. Happy birthday to him!
Curly, cracks me up that you're planning ahead to avoid the chatty one. As an introvert myself, I can be chatty with strangers at times. I don't really understand my compulsion and sometimes worry I'm annoying people. lol
We're going to grill tonight for the first time in the season. I'm not sure why we started so late, but we're getting to it now. As maryann noted, the Midwest is having a rare June cool spell. Pretty much perfect for grilling today. Yesterday was rainy, but today we're keeping the low temperature but gaining sunshine.
Exercise: +40, 435/1100 minutes for June
maryann: I have a nephew in graduate school for engineering at UIUC -- seems to be working well for him.
onebyone: you're wise to think about the days AFTER events. Those really trip me up unless I remember ahead of time that they're going to be filled with weird and contradictory emotions.
Friday - Flag Day (since 1916, President Woodrow Wilson)
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Walk, CREDIT moi, included the consoling role of talking to the librarian. She's a big fan of the Boston Bruins Hockey Team. BIG fan. For those who don't live and die around hockey, the Bruins lost the seventh game the night before to a team from somewhere out west - the Saint Louis Blues. She declared that the team that wanted to win the most had won. The Blues had never won a Stanley Cup before. Congrats to all Blues fans out there.
Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, including dinner alone since DW went out early to an event that served top shelf appetizers. I had a leftover burger-beans-and-rice dish with a humongous green salad served in a serving bowl. Felt like I'd compensated for something by eating so much lettuce.
onebyone - Love reading about your steamroller printing. Thanks for "Of course, the top of this to do list is to do it." - I can use that.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Congrats to your Blues for a whomping win of the Stanley Cup. Even if you're not an active fan, you'll hear the roar from the celebration parades.
curlyjax - Yay for having a working hip - a goodly part of a working body.
Penny. - Ouch for tailbone/sacrum issues. DW went through a period where we brought a donut cushion with us everywhere we went. No one even noticed.
Readers -
Quote:
Day 30Stay in Control When Eating Out
Plan to Eat Out
Here's what you should do to get ready: . . .
Plan in advance how much you're going to eat. It's fine to eat a little more than usual - perhaps up to 25 percent more calories than you ordinarily would have eaten for that meal. If you don't eat out very often, the extra food shouldn't appreciably slow down your rate of weight loss.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), Pg 214.
Last edited by BillBlueEyes; 06-14-2019 at 09:26 PM.
Reason: Big Ooops . . . Cardinals to Blues
I missed a couple of days posting. Food was on plan and then off, weight was down and then up. Pretty much par for the course for me lately. Yesterday I was just in a funk, but I'm back to myself today. I met a friend and we hiked Sunrise trail starting a little before 5. I'm lucky that she'll go that early. Actually she's always an early riser, but especially now because she has jet lag after returning from Europe. This afternoon I'm seeing Late Night with another friend. I'm glad to have a few things to do with people as this is mostly a very quiet time of the year. I have not been very disciplined in getting a list together of things I can do when there is nothing to do. Yesterday was just one of those too hot summer days where I don't want to be here. I'm not alone in that thought which is why so many people are not here in the summer. Sometimes I even start thinking about where we will move, but then by October I am delighted to be here. It helps to leave town as I do each summer, but I can't be gone all summer since I do like to be with my husband and Otis. Okay, so much for my complaining.
I have not aches and pains, so I'm pretty happy about that.
Have a great Friday and I'll get to personals tomorrow.
I had a big salad for lunch yesterday and that worked well. I'm going to try that again today. A part of my brain believes that a salad isn't lunch -- add a sandwich, and then we're good -- but my body is saying that a big salad is plenty for lunch, most days. And, that a whole sandwich with a salad is way too much food. So, I'm experimenting with ways to convince my brain that everything is fine.
Exercise: +30, 465/1100 minutes for June
BillBlueEyes: The hockey team is the Blues -- with one of the best logos in sports, I think, a musical note that looks like it's going to fly. I'm not a hockey fan, at all, but even I got a bit excited. It was a big deal here and a good impact on a part of the economy that needed a boost. A friend of mine works a second job in a sports bar and she's been very busy.
Last day of colleges. Purdue is huge and truthfully I am pretty burnt on lecture. Good lesson for me as a teacher. You can’t be lectured for four hours and expect to learn much. 15000 steps yesterday. Probably same today.
Credit for leaving food on my plate. Ouch for the pattern of three full meals a day. I just can’t eat that
much and not gain weight. We fly home tomorrow and I will start firm with a new plan.
Saturday - King John signs Magna Carta (1215, Runnymede, England)
Diet Coaches/Buddies - I defeated the geniuses who run the Amazon site. I had ordered an $11 used paperback book that was touted to be delivered in one day. Didn't need it in one day, but that was the deal. Sure enough, the next day the Track Package feature of their site posted that it had been delivered at 1:10pm "In a secure place." Good enough, except that no package was on my porch or any nearby "Secure place." I've had fake delivery postings before; then the package was actually delivered the next day. So I waited two days; still no package. Set about to tell Amazon. I fiddled with their site. I followed every path. I could RETURN the book for any one of eleven reasons for a credit when the return arrived. There was no place to report that the package wasn't delivered. No place. None.
Finally took a break. Did something useful. Then went back and did the obvious: I googled "How to report a package not delivered by Amazon." Amazingly, the first hit detailed how to unwind their [Help] section until you reach [Do you want to chat about this?] Actually, I didn't want to chat, I just wanted to report. Taking the only option available, I "chatted" with a bot that quickly offered to refund my money. I clicked [Yes] and my problem was solved. I then ordered the book again albeit a $12 new version. Glad to have been victorious. Without google, Amazon would have won.
Oh, yes, eating was reasonable, CREDIT moi, although I did have a snack while pondering how to overcome Amazon's initial defeat of my situation.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Let us know how the experiment works teaching your brain new tricks. Just rewire a few zillion neurons. Thanks for catching me calling the Blues the Cardinals. I knew better. Sometimes my neurons get stuck. I'm used to being in contest with the Saint Louis Cardinals although this year it looks like the Red Sox are merely in contest to get through the season alive.
maryann - 15000 steps is goodly walking, Kudos. Yep, four hours is too long to be able to learn anything. I'm a fan of newspaper style writing where the first paragraph tells the entire story; reading more is for more details.
Karen (karenrn) - Neat to recognize the joys in your life.
Penny. - Funny that a tailbone problem seems silly when an elbow problem wouldn't.
Readers -
Quote:
Day 30Stay in Control When Eating Out
Plan to Eat Out
Here's what you should do to get ready: . . .
Plan what you're going to eat. Check to see if the restaurant has a menu posted on a Web site. Think about which foods you might eat and the size of portions you should consume.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), Pg 214.
Thursday - NASA's Pioneer 10 the 1st man-made object to leave the solar system (1983)
1 month deadline looms
