[gardenerjoy]

With two day's evidence, a medium salad and an apple, plus lots of water, seem to keep my system running smoothly. I formerly believed it took a giant salad to do the trick. Switching to a smaller salad also means less dressing and fewer nuts, thus fewer calories.

Exercise +40, 1305/1500 minutes for March

[karenrn]

Good morning coaches,

Food has been on plan but I guess I'm in maintenance mode. I did contact the nutritionist who I haven't met with since before Thailand. I let her know that I'm now following a whole foods plant based diet and wanting to check in with her for accountability if she is able to support me in that. I will be meeting with her next week. She also suggested I use the Cronology ap rather than My Fitness Pal because she thinks they are more accurate with micronutrients. I downloaded the ap and have started using it, but I don't find it near as easy as MFP. It's only day one though, so I will keep it up.

It's an overcast and sometimes rainy day here. That was in the forecast which is why I did the long hike yesterday. Otis and I did get a walk in between showers this morning. I'm not feeling very motivated to do much, but hopefully I'll get going on something.

GardenerJoy Good point about a smaller salad needing less of the high calorie items too.

Bill I'm glad the tooth extraction wasn't so bad. I found the same thing when I had to undergo that a few years back. The endodontist placed a base for the implant the same day and I actually had no pain. I think I may have taken some Ibuprofen just in case, but I was very pleasantly surprised. I hope you are as fortunate.

Take care, Penny, I hope things go okay for the 15 year old.

Dh is home for lunch so more personals tomorrow.

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Felt well enough to become picky about the instructions sent home with me by the dentist. For example, "Avoid all activities that will disturb the clot, such as exercise, bending, and any other exertion." For how long? Never exercise again? How will I put on my socks the day after? And there are two blatant grammatical errors - the sort one would expect in inexpensive electronic instruction books from Japan a few decades ago. Methinks this is a sign that I'm getting well. The next stage is to laugh, make my decisions, and continue with my life.

Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Dinner was grilled tuna - a pretty rare treat. Naturally, it was declared "sustainable" tuna. Well, not for that particular fish, I'd guess, but maybe for his buddies. I'm guessing they took a vote and we got the tuna voted off the island. Somewhere I heard that three-lobed Red Bell Peppers have less seeds than four-lobed Red Bell Peppers. Gullible that I am, I bought one of each. Now I'll do a comparison of these two. Then, whatever the results, I'll note that the sample size was rather small. Nevertheless, the Red Bell Peppers we've been getting lately are over-the-top superb.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Yay for constantly running experiments with your eating plan.

Karen (karenrn) - Neat that your nutritionist is able to support your new whole foods diet. Glad that your extraction went well. I suspect that mine is doing fine; I just need to get past the normal male-something-with-my-body syndrome.

Readers -

Chapter 5 Stage 2 - The Think Thin Initial Eating Plan

Your Think Thin Bonus Calorie Options

If you have the idea, I can never eat cake again (or whatever you favorite food is), you might be able to stop yourself from eating cake for a while. But sooner or later, you are likely to slip and have some. You might then have the thought, I'll never allow myself to eat cake again, so I better load up now, and end up eating a lot of cake.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 120.

[curlyjax]

I ran out of time to post yesterday morning. Last night I went to a new yoga class at 7 pm. The instructor came in wearing a mask and said she had been out recovering from covid , as did her partner who was there, so I decided to leave. It was probably fine, but being in a small space, I didn’t have a mask etc, not worth it. So I went upstairs to the large space upstairs and did the elliptical for 30 minutes. It's so hard to exercise with a mask on, and I get hot flashes, so I’m risking it generally. I got into way too much chocolate but onwards.
Tonight I’m going with a friend to a performance that was postponed for two years; an acapella group called Straight no Chaser. They’re very good and funny. Hopefully finding parking will not be as difficult this time as its Worcester, not Boston - pronounced Wuhstah by the locals
Bill-glad you’re feeling better enough to be picky!
Gardenerjoy-always good to find out you can function on less food.
Karen-good idea to get more pointers from the nutritionist.

[gardenerjoy]

We have a rainy day on tap, so I'm seeking out cozy ideas that don't involve comfort food. First step is to open the shades in the sunroom, my view from my office. Somehow it feels cozier if I can see the rain from my desk. Also, I turned on the extra lamp in my office. More light always helps.

I've finished sorting the books in my office. Yay! I already made two trips to the donation box for the Greater St. Louis Book Fair, a huge event in our region. I just need to box up the last of these books and make one more trip to be completely done with this part of the project.

I still have cookbooks and an embarrassingly large stack of magazines before I'll be completely done with the books chapter of the Marie Kondo method.

Exercise +45, 1350/1500 minutes for March

[nationalparker]

Hello coaches! I am checking in with a much anticipated day NOT at the in-laws. We got a late start yesterday, after another squabble with DH that took us awhile to move through. He doesn't listen and then says I've said something that I didn't say, which drives me bonkers. Just say I missed that. Don't put words in my mouth. Apparently I'm "grilling" him on things with the estate and pushing him. I said fine, hands off. He asks me what I think about this or that, and I tell him, so don't ask me. We got through it after some hurt feelings and anger. This morning when we were still in bed, I said I'd read that someone said she and her spouse ask each other, "What can I do today (or this week) to help you out/lighten your load?" So I asked him that. ... He's like I don't know. I suggested that I make a few phone calls for things from the estate we're wanting to pass on for reuse vs. throwing away, and he said that would be very helpful. I was happy when after a while he asked what HE could do today to help me. I requested that he bring home a few boxes to pack up dishes of his mom's for his older daughter. He has easy access to boxes at work, and this ultimately helps him, too. I'm going to really try to remember this tactic because maybe what I'm thinking is a priority isn't for him, etc.

I REALLY struggle with stress eating. I did OK yesterday, but always room for improvement. Got home at 8 and I just make a huge bowl of bruschetta mix as I had a lot of campari tomatoes, and we had that with toasted ciabatta thin slices. Today is a bunch of house chores, changing sheets, vacuuming, cleaning the kitchen, marketing, etc. I need a fresh supply of fruits and veggies.

Bill - HAHA on the grammatical errors being bothersome. I concur completely. It makes me think if easy errors are made, what else is incorrect that I can't determine. Continued good vibes for healthy healing. I would agree on the seeds in red peppers because I'd think three lobes would have one less capsaicin gland/seeds. Look forward to your research despite small sample size I have bought the roasted red peppers and garlic herb dough to make these red pepper coques one night with meatless meatballs and salad as sides. Of all the tapa spots we went to while living in Spain, I don't remember having these. Must fix that. Recipe is from America's Test Kitchen Plant Based Recipes but online you must subscribe. Boo. I wrote it down from my library version.

CurlyJax - Credit to you for leaving yoga when you didn't feel comfortable! Have fun at Straight No Chaser. My sister sent me a fan similar to this from amazon for my hot flashes when on the bike. I use it when cleaning and doing yardwork in the summer, too. It looks pretty tacky here but it does the job with multiple speeds and charges usb easily.

Joy - Yay on the continued work with clearing books! I took a few from my in-laws but it was hard to pass on a lot of them. I keep saying I can get them from the library! I hope that continues to be the case. I worry about more libraries moving to the European model (what I hear it's called) and mostly only digital versions. That seems so much easier to control what is "lost", "unavailable" due to changing political climate. I kind of love and hate the idea that I need less food.

Karen - Interesting info about Cronology. I'm not familiar with that, so as you use it if you don't mind sharing an update, that'd be good to know if you think it gets easier to input, etc. Right now I'm not inputting anything anywhere, and think my first step is to mark off veggie and fruit servings daily. Baby steps now to get on track with nutrition. I can relate to your DH being "hopping mad" - but i love that term. I was livid when a guy on a huge mower mowed the high grasses behind my property where all the bunnies had dens at a time when the babies were young. I tore out the back door and stopped him and he's like I was told to do this. I'm like I'm telling you NO. Finally he left with it half mowed and i was on the phone to the park service so fast. The main person recognized that was not right and said they'd skip it next year, so the next year I emailed to thank them for not clear cutting that down and she was so nice to thank me for thanking her. hahaha ... we ended up setting a meeting on the trail and I learned from her about invasive species and that my goal of putting in a few bat houses to promote the area bats to live near ME might turn into yellowjacket homes, which I didn't want. Anyway, apparently I am a hothead about gardens too.

I've got to get moving here. Strong storms coming in later today, so want marketing runs tackled early. Goal today is veggie-heavy lunch without a potato. My crutch in stressful times.

[karenrn]

Good morning coaches,

Food has been on plan and I was out for a great hike this morning. We had some rain yesterday which cleared the air and made the trails so nice. My friend and I hiked to the top of Sunrise Peak and back which was just under two hours. I walked Otis when I got home and I'll soon get cleaned up and take my friend for a procedure for her back pain. I've got a book on the Kindle and an audiobook to choose from to keep me entertained. I guess the name of the ap I'm using is really Chronometer. I decided to pay for the upgrade by month and will probably only use it a couple of months and then go back to MFP. It's $8.99 per month and would have a big reduction to choose a year, but I don't really think I'll need it once I have an idea of whether or not my micronutrients are sufficient. I eat tons of veggies and fruit too, so I can't imagine they won't be good. I found the paid ap is easier to use than the free plan.

I'm looking forward to going back to the nutritionist. I think it's helping me with my portions already, so we'll see. She mentioned she will likely decrease my protein goal and increase my carbohydrates and fat. I guess we'll just muddle through and see what works.

Nationalparker I don't envy you with the tough chore of the in-laws house, dh's feelings, etc. Just nothing easy about it. I pretty much always journal my food and have for years. For one thing I like to know about how many calories I'm eating as well as the macros. Of course it's never perfect, but I can't try to fool myself completely.

GardenerJoy You've been doing a terrific job with your books. I'm so glad to have the good influence within our group to keep me going.

Curlyjax Have fun at your outing this evening. I don't blame you for not wanting to be in a crowded room with folks who recently had Covid. I keep thinking it'a a miracle I haven't had it yet, but I do think it's a testament to wearing a mask.

Bill Glad to hear you're doing well. The thing I always remember from a tooth extraction is "no straws". You probably don't use them anyway.

Waving to everybody else. Better get cleaned up and out the door.

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Didn't spend time with the (6 yo) DGD because she was at the dentist having a baby tooth extracted. Ouch! Apparently, she survived. She got chocolate ice cream for dinner and the Tooth Fairy left her an origami $5 instead of her usual $1. Her biggest complaint was the novacaine shot. When I saw her on Sunday, we showed each other the tooth that we'd never be able to show each other again.

Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. With afternoon tea, I noted that DW was having a biscotti. I wanted one. Reminded myself that I didn't need to have one just because I saw it. If I followed that line of thinking, I'd be a whale in no time. Dinner was the second dip into a rotisserie chicken that DW bought earlier in the week because she'd worn herself out cleaning up the yard from winter. There's a lot of bending involved in removing what the trees have shed.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Continued Congrats for moving books. It's fun to imagine that some of them will find new readers.

nationalparker – Those red pepper coques look good to me. Had to google that it's a Catalan-style flat bread. Your cooking does tend to span the globe. Congrats for working out the tension with your DH.

Karen (karenrn) - Congrats for taking the effort to track your micronutrients - a big job. Hard to believe that your nutritionist would decrease your protein with all the hiking you do.

curlyjax - LOL at "pronounced Wuhstah by the locals" - Yep, getting used to the Massachusetts way of pronouncing words is a challenge. Kudos for heading to the elliptical rather than heading home.

Readers -

Chapter 5 Stage 2 - The Think Thin Initial Eating Plan

Your Think Thin Bonus Calorie Options

Knowing you can always plan to have your favorite foods the next day - and every day if you want - makes it easier to stick to your food plan.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 120.

[curlyjax]

The concert yesterday was so fun. We had great seats, the guys were very funny and wonderful singers. We decided to just sit in my friends car for awhile before getting out of the congested parking lot, and there were police helping to direct traffic etc so it was all good-we share some driving anxiety but are able to laugh about it. I felt kind of young because there were a lot of baby boomers there I was hungry after the concert so ate too many snacks at home but at least I avoided the sweets at work: I stared longingly at some big cookies but backed away.
Gardenerjoy- there is something about the rain that makes one want comfort foods for sure; good idea for finding an alternative.
Nationalparker-great job working thru things with DH. I love the idea of saying that to each other. The fan is awesome, thanks for the idea!
Karen- that is awesome that you've journaled your food for so long. I keep thinking its a miracle I haven't got it either.
Bill-Too funny about the two of you showing your teeth to each other.

[gardenerjoy]

It rained all day yesterday. Today is going to be cold and cloudy. So, I'm renewing my cozy plan. An advantage of a newly pared-down closet is that it's easy to find the coziest outfit available.

Today, I have a new plan for some take-out food that we get once or twice a week. Half the serving plus a salad. My hypothesis is that it will be plenty satisfying. And that the other half will work fine for lunch tomorrow.

Exercise +45, 1395/1500 minutes for March

[nationalparker]

After a wildly warm and windy day yesterday, back to the cold and gray skies. It was certainly a treat, though. I asked DH again what I could do to help him while he's at work, and he had two ideas, and tackled those both at 9 a.m. and offered another suggestion that he was in favor of. He said he struggles with juggling everything at once. My whole career was handling loads of projects at various stages, so it's how I roll. I think we lean toward our strengths and his is more focused. I hope this works. I'm going to keep asking and tackling what helps until it doesn't help anymore. I'd LOVE for it to carry through past this, but we'll see.

The roasted red pepper coques were superb. I had never made them, and had to note that the topping had to be cooked but then cool completely, so I chilled a bowl and that sped it along. DH loved them, and paired with a very simple salad was ideal. I was a bit heavy-handed with the red pepper flakes as I often am, and our lips were tingling. I think I'll cook DH a curry that he enjoys (I do not like curry), so he'll have leftover options this weekend. I'll also prep a new recipe for slow cooker black bean soup; finally bought the dry black beans. I already have a few very good recipes for that, but want to try this one and see how it differs.

Karen - You must be the healthiest and most active of your nutritionist's clients! Your friends are fortunate to be able to count on you for rides to appointments; that takes stress off the appt. I always bring more than I need when I have to wait - I bring stationery and cards to write out, kindle book options, magazines I want to finish reading, etc. It looks like I'm planning for a full day of waiting.

Bill - Are you trying to tell me that I DON'T need to eat something that looks delicious that I see someone else eating? UGH. That is a massive temptation for me. Or when I read about it. Tea and toast? Hmm... I'd better put my bookmark in the book and start the kettle. Which was a problem when I was deep into WWII in England books. Credit to you for not going down that path with DW's biscotti!

Joy - Are you releasing any of your books "into the wild" via BookCrossing? I'm adding books into our library, mainly kids books I've run across in boxes at the in-laws' that were DH's as a kid ... old Golden Books, so a small influx. The prices NOW are astronomical. Do you have a suggestion on how to sanitize books? I'm using sanitizing wipes and then drying off immediately with paper towels ... goal is to remove any trace of mice remnants.

CurlyJax - I'm so glad the concert was fun! I'm with you on letting the crowds disperse vs. sitting in traffic. You have me wanting to get out and do more fun things. That has to be just so hard to have yummy indulgent treats available most days at work.

Penny - I hope your kids have fared well this week; winging good vibes out to you!

Maryann - I hope you are getting restorative rest and this situation with your longtime family friend hasn't shaken you from your plan. It'd be hard not to eat these feelings.

OneByOne - Hi there - hope you have time to check in before long. Starting a new month tomorrow and I'm debating starting a new journal for a fresh start, or finishing the last 15 pages or so (?) in this journal. I feel like this one is just up and down 3-5 pounds and no progress at all, more backward movement. I see a new journal as a fresh start and hoping that for April. Second quarter of the year, what changes can we create?

Ann - I hope you and your family are well. Has the weather been OK for your walks? I could get out and walk today but I think I'll hit our exercise bike instead. The wind is just whipping again and I'm taking the wimpy way out. Hope you get good time with your DGDs soon!

[karenrn]

Good morning coaches,

Food has been on plan. I hiked Bell Pass by myself and listened to a good Rich Roll podcast. I've just had a snack and will get Otis out for a walk soon. He won't be crazy about the recycle bins, but hopefully I can get him going. I woke up at 2 a.m. so I imagine there will be a nap in my future. I gave up going back to sleep and read a book and decided I felt good enough to hike. Actually I feel really good and my time was the best ever on my hike.

Nationalparker I may be one of the more active client's for my nutritionist, but I acknowledge that a big reason is that I have the time and interest to do that. Luckily my health so far is excellent and I'm hoping to keep it that way. The red pepper coques looked really good.

GardenerJoy Good plan to cut the portion and add salad. I'm with you on the ease of having a pared down closet of clothing. I'm also finding I'm much more motivated to really hang things up rather than on the hook on the closet wall and even put the shoes away.

Curlyjax That's great that you enjoyed the performance so much. I know there are plenty of performances going on in this city, but I have gotten out of the habit of checking them out.

Bill That is funny that you and dgd both lost a tooth this week. Did the tooth fairy leave anything for you? Or just a bill? As for my protein, from what I'm reading we don't need near as much as people thought. She had me on 92 grams which is a bit difficult to get on a plant based diet. I'm hoping she'll take it down a good bit. I'd rather have more veggies, grains and fruit.

Waving to the others. Going to get Otis out of his little nest on our bed and get him out in this beautiful sunshine.

[OpheliaBlake22]

Glad I found this thread!

[Penny.]

Good morning!

I missed a day, busy with school stuff. My eating is not weightloss eating but I'm still trying. Ever maintaining at least.

One bonus to having an elementary school kid is two half-hour walks for drop off and pick up. Built in exercise!

My 15yo is at school now for her very first day. The school is so big and the throngs of teenagers going through the door is quite overwhelming for us homebodies. She is happy to get her chosen electives of cooking and art.

I asked about her getting a locker since it was not mentioned and the responding question asking if she wanted a locker surprised me. Maybe they don't have the piles of books like we used to have and don't need a locker. Everyone gets a laptop nowadays, so I imagine a lot of it is digital. I can't wait to find out how it goes later today.

Nationalparker, I have that same electric fan zip-tied to my stationary bike. Disco light mode is fun. lol

Curly, the concert sounds so fun!

Bill, those precautions after having a tooth pulled are so strict. My youngest after her last teeth pulling asked me why she never had to bother with all that when I pull her teeth out. Oops! My kids have had a propensity for getting "shark teeth" and the babies won't come out on their own. If they seem easy enough for me to do myself, I offer them half the amount it would cost me to use the dentist. They are always happy to do it. Crazy kids.

Karen, protein is indeed so hard to get plant-based. I don't eat a lot of tofu or nuts either, so my average is 34g or so. Fiber is always superb, which I know is extremely difficult to get on a keto diet.

[maryann]

Good Afternoon, Coaches.

I have been very busy this week. I went to an AA meeting on Tuesday and pick up a newbie who isn't quite ready t stop drinking yet. That is always interesting. Wednesday was DH biopsy as part of our Attentive Watchfulness regime. Today I raced through school, left early, packed and am now out the door to go on a red eye to Michigan to see DS in concert.

I love packing efficiently. Wardrobe capsules are a game to me. Sleek travel ideas. I just purchased some foldable shoes that will work as dress shoes or around the pool. I know right? waterproof. plus they fold into a 4 by 4 cube. I ended up packing for four days in an under the seat roller. Totally cool. That included my "ostrich" neck brake to be able to sleep on the plane. I also packed a few healthy snacks.

Weight is better. Just focusing on fruits and veggies.

Wave to all