Friday - Britain's Queen Victoria telegraphs US President James Buchanan (1858)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Dinner on the patio included garden tomato salad. What a treat. DW weighed five pounds of tomatoes picked from the garden that afternoon - and more is still coming. Big deal is that I only ate half the pork chop, CREDIT moi; it was a large chop and I just didn't need to eat the whole thing. Good news is that it awaits me for lunch today.

Got some stuff done - not as much as I wanted. I read a New Yorker short story because DW wanted to discuss the characters with me. Gotta love good writing when it touches images of real folks. In my next life I'll be born with the ability to write a novel. Wouldn't that be fun?


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Yay for the role of Designated Driver to help solve the calories of drinking.

maryann - If your students can draw maps of the world they're ahead of the pack.

Beth (bethturnaround) - Kudos for recognizing that you didn't want the 2 slices of raisin bread more than you wanted to relose.

Penny. - Perhaps some of the folks walking at 3:30am will simply stay up all night. Why bother?

Readers -

Good morning coaches,

My appetite is back in a big way, but my goal is to keep the little bit off that I lost. I’m eating all healthy food and no sweets. I have had a couple of drinks though. Today we’re heading up to Mineral King for 3 nights at a cabin. I’ll get a few hikes in. I fell onto the handle of my trekking pole a week ago and bruised my upper chest. It is very sore still but I can breath fine. I’m looking forward to that going away. I’ll head home next Tuesday since we aren’t doing the High Sierra Trail this year. It will be great to see dh and Otis. I feel like more upper body strength would be helpful, so I’ll make that a priority once this chest thing is better. Personals once I’m not typing on my phone.

Good morning!

Yesterday was overbudget again and weight is holding. I did just a 2.5 mile walk and I have a hike today.

Beth, credit for sticking to plan and resisting the toast.

Bill, kudos for leaving half the porkchop. Tomato sandwiches are especially delicious when you pick the tomatoes from your own garden.

Karen, sorry about the injury on the trekking pole. Ouch! Enjoy the cabin stay.

Yesterday I followed my plan reasonably well, but I really don't like how I feel when I eat that late at night. In the future, I'll try to plan our social activities earlier in the day. Lunches are a great way to socialize! Now, I just need to convince the rest of the world of that.

I split an appetizer with DH. The 20-somethings each ordered cheesecake. It's been a long time since I could justify a dessert that rich at a restaurant. I've had it in people's homes, but I ask for "a sliver" which gets me about six small bites and is more than enough.

Today's challenge is a general lack of energy after a late night. I have a good generous plan to deal with that so I'll stick to it!

Exercise: +40, 505/1100 minutes for August

Curlyjax - I leave for my trip next Thursday. Trying to get everything done here at home so we can leave for a month or more.

Maryann - I really love how you showed your students how US history is part of world history.

Beth - that raisin bread story really rung true with me. Sometimes I just want certain food for no rational reason. If I can talk myself out of it for a period of time, the crazy drive to consume usually goes away. I don’t really understand where it comes from in the first place.

Bill - I so love to eat leftover dinner food the next day. Credit you for saving half that pork chop!

Karen - what fun to spend 3 nights in a cabin. Your hikes amaze me.

Penny - you seem to be doing very well with your walks.

GardenerJoy - I much prefer to eat earlier in the evening too.


So one good thing that I have noticed is that once I eat dinner, I am done eating for the day. This has not been at all difficult which is a true surprise. I always used to want a snack after dinner and somehow whatever I’m doing has made that go away. (Knock on wood!)

DH came home yesterday afternoon. He rented a minivan to bring a bunch of stuff from the house he’s selling to our little house, and it is now all sitting in the living room where some of my boxes of art supplies still reside. They are having a nice conversation, haha. To give him credit, he has been working steadily at getting everything put away.

My sciatica has come back a little bit and I am doing everything I can to hold it at bay. I had a bout with it (really piriformis syndrome) about 3 years ago, and I was really laid up for approximately 8 months, it was awful. I’ve already gone to a chiro and physical therapist and am stretching and icing like mad. It seems better today.

Saturday - 1st ascent of Mt Rainier, Washington (1870)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Lunch was two slices of whole wheat toast each covered with a GIANT slice of garden fresh tomato. Heaven on earth. Dinner on the patio was just cool enough to warrant a long sleeved shirt. Felt off since it's August.

At the supermarket I bought just what was on my list, CREDIT moi. The credit is because there were stacks and stacks of snack items that called to me. In my fantasies, I'll shop at a supermarket that only sells food food - nothing whose first ingredient is added sugar.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Congrats for surviving in the face of the eating capabilities of 20 year olds. Good luck shifting the world into an early time frame.

Karen (karenrn) - Mineral King looks fantastic. Ouch for the bruise; glad that you're able to keep going.

Penny. - Yay for hikes and walks.

CJZee - LOL at the image of your two sets of stuff in the living room chatting away. Neat to have your DH back home.

Readers -

quick wave everyone. I keep running out of time in the am to post since for this job i need to be on time :) and i drive longer, and still am madly rushing around last minute collecting stuff. It will get easier- especially when kid #1 goes back to college! today i am up early for a car appt, then driving DS one hour to new hampshire to meet his uncle- he is off for a week to hang out with my inlaws. Then a weekend of cleaning up, organizing etc, whee, and RESTING. personals tomorrow!

I'm celebrating that I'm just about on track, at mid-month, to meet my exercise goal for August.

Exercise: +40, 575/1100 minutes for August

Good morning!

Yesterday was overbudget and weight is holding. Maybe I should just raise my plan to maintenance.

I hiked about six miles through the city park, went through the rose garden and Japanese garden, and then ate lunch at a fantastic vegan restaurant. Good day.

CJ, that's great you are easiliy not eating after dinner. I hope the sciatica pain goes away.

Joy, you always hit the excericise mark. Credit!

Bill, kudos for dodging the snack temptation at the store.

Curly, it sounds like a busy day. You finished two weeks at the new job! Credit!

Good Morning, Coaches.

I have the luxury of typing on the computer this morning. Much easier.

CjZee and Beth: I absolutely know the feeling of craving a specific food. I have given into it a seemingly infinite number of times. I recently read the Beck section that says ( and I paraphrase) that if your hunger has a specific name (raisin bread, ice cream, etc . . .) it is not a hunger but a craving. That has been helpful for me to remember. It is not always a guarantee I will not pick that food up but at least I have self knowledge.
BBE: Nothing beats fresh fruits like your tomato. I also love that half a pork chop makes a meal. I have to remind myself that I can half any amount of food and make it enough because I live in a society of too much.
gardenerjoy: I am always proud of myself when six bites of a cheesecake are enough.
Penny: Walking through a rose garden sounds divine.
curleyjax: here is hoping your weekend gives you some down time.

As for me, the week ended on an upswing. The classes ( though huge) seem to be coming along. I seem to be managing my anger toward the district regarding the situation a little better and hopefully I will come to some peace about it. Resentment does nothing but rob my joy and recovery. I do not want to "eat at" my administration. I did get a call back on the new position and had a very candid and freeing discussion with the principal. I didn't want to sell myself. I wanted to find out if the job would be a good fit. She returned the honesty saying that she had talked to my previous principal who was glowing about me but that teaching at an alternative high school might not be the same dynamic. I have some thinking to do this weekend.

Food has been OP and I have ended the week two pounds down. It was fun to adjust my ticker. I attended scheduled pilates class and will go to the gym today.

Enjoy the weekend.

Sunday - Jimi Hendrix concludes Woodstock (1969)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Exercise was our yearly square dance party, CREDIT moi. We've been doing this for years. The folks dancing are all amateurs having fun instead of taking it seriously so young kids are in the mix as well as gray-haired folk. Whole lot of fun.

I turned down the cake offered, CREDIT moi, which I usually take. I did have an ice cream bar that I'd planned so it wasn't a big loss. Dinner was eaten outside in a green surrounding in perfect weather. I got to admire a 1950 tractor that is still in use. Boy do I wish my car was built like that.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Happy Half-Goal Met!

maryann - Thanks for the reminder that we "live in a society of too much." Wish you well thinking through the dynamics of an alternative high school.

curlyjax - A drive to New Hampshire should be lovely right now. Yay for RESTING.

Penny. - Pretty nice place to be able to take a six-mile hike.

Readers -

I hit a bit of traffic yesterday going to NH but not too bad. There is great public radio to listen to on the weekends and that was a treat in the car. I did stop to use the bathroom and indulged in a small fast food burger as I really was hungry. I noted how many of us in the restaurant were overweight- hmm! I talked myself out of making something chocolate last night, and in a minute am going to get some meds at the drivethru pharmacy so i can avoid any temptations. I didn’t end up getting much done last night, but I was feeling content instead of sad and that is a good thing.
Karen- Hope the injury is doing better. Sounds like overall you’re having a great time!
Maryann- I really like that posting about craving vs hunger. Yesterday I was craving chocolate, but it wasn’t hunger. Glad your week ended well.
Bill- square dance sounds very fun, especially with the younger ones. Good job on planning for a treat.
Penny-maintenance is a great place to be!
Joy-you are an exercise queen!
Beth-great job talking yourself thru the raisin bread. You have done amazing and will continue to do so!

Curlyjax - when I lived in the NE I loved the range of talk radio shows available. Have a good weekend rest.

Bill - a square dance party, what fun! I never square danced until I moved to West Virginia years ago. I think they invented it. I apparently have lived everywhere, lol.

Maryann - you sound like a caring and lovely teacher.

Penny - it is so great that you are close to maintenance!

GardenerJoy - I like how you track your exercise in monthly increments.

As you all know, I am obsessed with getting ready for this trip whose details are really not very interesting to anyone outside the sphere of me and my DH. Possibly just me :)

Anyhow, I did lose 1.9 lbs this week and have done well with my eating since DH came home. However, with the sciatic pain I have been afraid to exercise heavily, just stretches and icing. I’m hoping that the muscle tightening is being caused by my stress level and will go away once this trip starts.

I did see something interesting on an intermittent fasting FB page. A lady tells herself "we're eating in tonight" when she is going to skip dinner, and what that means is she is telling her body that it will be nourished by her own body fat for that meal. I thought it was an interesting way to express it. I might try it as a mental framework and see if it works for me.

Good Morning, Coaches.

OP yesterday but the scale jumped up 2 pounds. Oh Well. I will stay the course. I did not get to the gym yesterday so today it is a priority.

I haven’t decided about the job position. I haven’t been offered it yet but I’ll need to have an answer is I am.

Wave to all.

Good morning!

Yesterday included bread and pizza made with my new sourdough starter, and weight is up a bit. I already had leftover pizza for breakfast, so I need to buckle down.

The bread and the pizza crust were amazing! But, I should probably tuck the starter in the fridge to hibernate until I can get some proper baking supplies for it.

CJ, fantastic job on the weight loss. I love the saying of "dining in".

Maryann, the choice between the alternative school and a class of 39 sounds impossible. If you could get a peek into the other position to see what it involves.

Bill, very cool to have a square dancing party. Do they still wear those poofy skirts?

Curly, credit for going with a small hamburger and avoiding chocolate. Lately I'm back on Subway, a veggie delight with guac, seems to get me through eating out when I don't pack something.