Good Morning Coaches.

I'm sticking with Day 8 today, create time and energy.

I could really use some help here. Time management is a huge struggle for me.

Actually, I am changing my mind here. I'm not going to try to be more regimented with planning and prep than I already am. I am just going to wing it. I live 1 block from a well-stocked neighborhood grocery store, and there is never a situation where I can't arrange for decent choices if I think ahead a day or two. Being more fixed in my schedule would just be punishing for me at this point.

Yay for not having to drink the koolaid and just doing what works for me! Credit for treating myself with love and respect!

One thing I have been wanting to change in the area of time management is my bathtub habit. I spend an hour or more in the bath many days per week. I chill easily, and also have a hard time de-stressing after work, so I run to hide and re-heat in a nice warm bath. The negative is that the bath eats up so much of my productive time at home. Also, once I overheat (which I love to do), I find it hard to get moving afterwards. I don't want to set any hard and fast rules, but as a general rule this week I'd like to try limiting baths to 30 minutes or chosing to take a shower instead.

Moving on to Day 9, Select an Exercise Plan . Happily, this is something I committed to about 2 months ago and have been doing very well. My plan is just a 30 minute walk daily. I miss sometimes, but not very often. I also already build exercise in by walking instead of driving when I can, parking farther away, etc.

One thing the book recommends that I would benefit from is "If you live in a 2 story house, don't like things that need to go to another floor pile up, take each up right away." I am guilty of creating HUGE piles on the stairs. This also causes stress because of the very visible clutter, and and I'd like to avoid that!

No personals today, but waving to and cheering for everybody : )

It was a good day have a good day!
 

Today's first project was dropping off the household waste products from in-laws to be collected, and the line was much shorter than the last time. Picked up more potting soil, and found a garden shed DH thought would work and make it past our HOA. if we want a shed that's bigger, we need to roof it the same as our house. We're not in a high-faloutin area so it's just to dissuade folks. It didn't dissuade the folks a few houses behind us...they put up a two story shed, completely snubbing the HOA. Two years ago. How!?!

Got DGS and played with him all afternoon and evening. Got soaked with the hose Which seemed so cold it took my breath away, and did more planting. He is such a sweet soul. He has me laughing so hard I'm crying so much. I love that silliness.

Food was ok. Bought black seedless grapes and strawberries and we enjoyed those off and on. I thought we had more watermelon but it's gone. It was so good for such an early one.
​​

Sunday - World Environment Day (since 1972, United Nations General Assembly)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, albeit a large dinner, as planned, with crudites and tabbouleh for appetizers. The twelve-pound ham served us well. Our SIL is lean, fit, athletic; and he consumes huge potions of meat. He devoured about four servings of ham and was grinning ear-to-ear that I sent him home with a mighty chunk. It never ceases to amaze me how much the kids feel like they've swindled us when they leave with food. Granddad here was super pleased with himself that he'd bought such a large ham and then sent most of it off.

Dinner with a 6yo and a 2 yo was a zoo - as would be expected. At some magic moment, both kids left the table to go into the living room together to make noise on the electronic keyboard set out just for them. The noise was loud, but we had a few minutes of adult conversation knowing exactly where they both were. Watched the DGD happily serve herself broccoli. Part of the ritual of her visit is to grab the tiny silk coin purse that sits discretely over the shoe rack knowing that the contents were for her, dump them on the kitchen table, then, with laser focus, wash each coin with soap at the kitchen sink! Then she noted the date on each coin - each was older than her - and, with her dad, added them up to be $1.56. So much fun. The party promptly ended at 7 pm since both families had to get kids to bed. DW and I laughed and laughed as we cleaned up the disaster left behind feeling good that such a neat evening was possible.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Seems smart to let your body vote on the plan about what it'll do. Thanks for your link to your blog about Gender Queer - methinks you nailed it. I'd snickered knowing that you'd find the two twists: 1) that eir friend had "won" NaNoWriMo - first time I've heard that mentioned other than by you and never heard someone confused that it had the notion of winning, and 2) that e pondered that eir niece could call eir 'librarian' since the word 'aunt' didn't seem to fit.

maryann - Happy first day of freedom for the summer. Wonderful story of kids showing their appreciation of your teaching.

nationalparker – Getting rid of household chemicals is just the best. Love the story of laughing with your DGS while getting soaked with the cold hose. Precious memories.

Karen (karenrn) - I do hope that your DH isn't pushing his recovery with that 5-mile walk. Kudos to you for not trying to micro-manage his recovery wielding your nurse badge.

curlyjax - Hoping the move happened. Super Kudos to you and your DS for keeping your cool.

Penny. - Super neat to have a new restaurant with lots of vegan options. Perhaps some day that will be common.

MrsCalypso - Neat that you can take advantage of a nearby grocery store so that you don't have to over-plan. Kudos for already having your exercise plan in place. LOL at the piles on the stairs to save extra trips; I do that and feel like an idiot for going to so much effort to prevent some minor exercise.

Readers -

The move was successful. I was embarrassed and MAD that DD wasn’t ready on time as it inconvenienced my friends who were helping, but they were understanding as they have similarly aged young adult kids who have also put off packing. The weather was perfect, and we got in and out of Boston without a problem. I am sooo grateful to these friends. The next time DD moves, she will have to hire official movers, i’m not doing that again!!
The apt is tiny but great location, and has two full bathrooms for 3 young women, which is amazing. I’m feeling a little ill about the money involved, but its only for 16 months, and then DD should be able to get a job and pay for it all.
I feel like I’ve been in a bubble for the past few weeks and now I can focus on healthy eating and exercise again. Today I will make something decent for dinner, take a nap as I woke up too early, and maybe do a run to Savers to drop off some stuff. I’m determined to keep clearing out the house this summer!
Bill- that sounds like a lovely dinner!
Maryann- happy summer! It sounds like you have an excellent one planned. I do indeed remember your packing puzzles, I will turn to you for ideas at some point when I travel.
Karen-your meal prep foods sound really good, and it definitely makes a difference in cook time. DH is doing so great!

Good mornin coaches,

Even though my goal was to pay attention to hunger I had a couple of snacks yesterday afternoon. Oh well, moving forward. I'm taking the day off from hiking today, but I did some vacuuming for some movement at least and I'll do my plank and upper body exercises. I took half a Costco sleep aid at bedtime last night and slept like a log. It was so nice not to wake up too early. I think part of it was just knowing I didn't need to get up extra early for a hike. Dh is out for his walk and I'm sure he'll do 5 miles. He has been doing that every weekend and day off for the past year, so he's pretty used to it and seemed to be just fine.

No big plans again today, more reading and more time in the pool. Dh can't get in the pool yet, but can sit on the edge with his feet in. We have a tv out there so he watches the golf tourney.

Curlyjax I'm glad the move is over and that it went well. Now you can pay attention to taking care of you. I hope dd loves nursing school and she will have no problem getting a job when she finishes.

Bill The dinner party sounds very fun and how funny that you knew the two little ones were not getting into trouble since they were playing the keyboard. 7 p.m. would be the perfect time for a dinner party to end at my house even without little ones needing to go to bed.

Nationalparker I'm glad to hear you had such a fun day yesterday. I read an article in the NYT's I think that was talking about Canada and all the people leaving house fulls of stuff for their heirs to deal with. There were photos too of garages full of greasy tools etc. All of this helps me continue to think about getting rid of things not needed. Think of all the time you will soon have on your hands.

MrsCalypso It's great that you already have an exercise habit in place. One less thing to need to focus on and a great habit for good health. I also have a grocery store nearby, so I don't worry about stocking up much. I do love to have a few things ready (not full meals, just ingredients) so dinner is pretty quick to throw together. In February when I started the plant based diet, I chose recipes from a meal planning site and purchased the foods to make them. Now I only choose a couple so I have those ingredients on hand and wing it with Buddha bowls and tostada salads/burritos another couple of nights.

Waving to the others and hoping you're all having a great day!

Happy Sunday, Coaches.

Food wise was back to more normal . Weight is two pounds above ticker. I will be cautious today and eat BEFORE I go to my niece's grad party. I must strengthen my resistance muscle for my trip. My other niece who has a PHD in AG science brought some Himalayan mulberries. They are delish. Nice treat for breakfast. I froze a bunch since I am clearing out the ref. today.Still no exercise. I need to get back to it.

I am all packed. I spent most of the day fiddling around with laundry and new little cool items. I bought a camping spork to eat the Poshi asparagus in the airports. Veggies are expensive and not very good in the airport. I also packed twelve snack bags of our walnuts, dates and bits of chocolate. 1 pack a day. Those will replace one meal a day. I bought a collapsable 1L water bottle for my purse. Boy have they come far since the airport enforced dumping water bottles.I am set now with a personal item and a wheeled carryon for 12 days. I think I did fabulously given I had to use precious real estate for bulky tele-med COVID tests in addition to hiking boots. I got smart with the boots though. Instead of just stuffing underwear and socks willy nilly, i use narrow net bags. I used hair bands to roll each pair of underwear individually. Everything is in the boot but I can pull the bag when I need to go hiking and not have to repack.

Starting to get excited.

Karen: great that DH is walking so far.
Mrs. Calypso: Carving out space for exercise is so important. thanks for reminding me.
Curleyjax: Ta Dah!!!!! What a relief it is done.

Good morning!

Yesterday was a fun day but exhausted me. I had tempeh reuben sandwich and fries at my SILs restaurant (Flattop and Salemander) and test sips of two cocktails which confirmed they were superb. Everyone liked their food. I was able to avoid eating anymore for the day but weight did float up a smidge.

Today should include a walk to the park, with dogs, to visit with my brother. He has a new dog to meet. It's been very rainy here so hoping we get a break for my walk.

Have a great day, everyone!

I'm having a slow and weird day. That's sometimes enough to cause me to eat while I'm trying to deal with the weirdness. So, I'm here to pledge to stick to my plan, which I just wrote so that I'd have something to stick to.

Exercise +60, 205/1500 minutes for June

BillBlueEyes: Yes. I definitely appreciated both of those moments -- and knowing that you would have anticipated them for me. What fun!

Happy Sunday, Coaches.

Today is Day 10: Set a Realistic Goal

Dr. Beck recommends a 5 lb goal. I don't like being told what to do in such specific terms, so I am doing something else. :P

My first short-term goal is to show a 2lb loss. If I can do that, I will arrange to take myself to the beach for a beach [b][hike. That is something to look forward to!

Penny, congrats to your SIL for breaking into the Portland brunch scene! I'm in Eugene, but lived in Portland for nursing school. It was a big deal in the early 2000s, I'm sure it's even more of a big deal now.

MaryAnn, I enjoyed reading about your packing strategies. I love that kind of domestic wisdom!

Bill, Not sure I will actually make changes to my stairs pile habit, but I hope to. Yes, it is a lot of effort to avoid a little effort! Your SIL sounds like my DH. He eats so much at my parents' house, I started to say something!

karen, it sounds like our meal planning strategies and offerings are similar.

Hello coaches! A good day here, both in fun times with the DGS and in getting a lot of yardwork and gardening done afterward. I'm dirty and sweaty and will hop in the shower before going to see Eiffel at the theatre tonight. Never saw a preview so going into it wondering if we'll like it. Sounded interesting, though. One of those that if we didn't have the unlimited plan, we'd probably not go. I imagine we'll be the only ones in the theatre again.

Food has been fine today - nice for a weekend day for me.

Aiming to get back with more personals tomorrow. Safe travels, Maryann! I love packing for different trips and figuring out what works best for me on certain trips - our backpack in Italy was ideal - that was it for me, and a small purse that fit inside. It also kept me from wanting to buy much and just enjoy the experience. I did buy spices, though. Had rigged it so it couldn't easily been opened on my back unless someone cut it open and if that - then have the stuff.

CurlyJax - I remember my mom threatening me if i wasn't ready when they helped me move, there would be **** to pay. And she was so mild mannered. I was ready and we moved me out and into my apt in 90 minutes and she was gobsmacked. Ages ago.

Karen - there's a part of me that is worried that something will happen to DH and me while our garage is jammed with things from his folks! And people will be mad at us haha...Boxes and boxes of old photos/ black and white ones. We've culled a lot of the color ones already, two large boxes and many albums. I have photo boxes for the girls, his brother and DH that I got at JoAnn. they're being split ad we have time.

We are struggling with the whole reduce, reuse, repair (though I've added refuse to that too, refuse to bring things into our home or buy things we don't need...) But stuff dh can repair and save from the landfill is where we lose time, and which is more important. Some days time wins in my mind. Many days...thru this hoarding home clear out.

Exercise yesterday was vacuuming, and helping DS pick up a computer desk unit and bring it into the basement. The church got rid of some furniture and I thought this could be handy. It is added to the collection of stuff in DS’ “man cave” in the basement and he will consolidate things next week-he is off to visit his uncle in Vermont today. First time driving up there himself, but he’s been on the highway quite a bit now so I feel okay about it. Easier than driving into Boston for sure!
I will have a week to myself where I can focus on decluttering the house, and spend some time thinking about a meal plan that will work for myself and DS-he eats a lot of course as a healthy, active 20 year old male. Fortunately he is very health oriented unlike his mother:) I need some firm rules in place for myself and stick to them.
Mrs. Calypso- non food rewards are always good. I’m promising myself a new work bag when I lose 5 pounds.
Nationalparker-I can certainly understand time winning out thru your big clear out. I like the refuse bit, that’s a great idea. I need to institute the whole “one thing in, one thing out” for myself.
Maryann- I’m getting excited for you. Great job packing!
Karen- DD is finding nursing school very interesting, although hard. Glad you got a good nights sleep.

Monday - The first drive-in movie theater opened, (1933, Camden County, N.J.)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Exercise, CREDIT moi, was walking for hours on the "Secret Gardens of Cambridge" sponsored by the Friends of the Library. Just a magnificent event. For the admission price one picks up a brochure that lists the several dozen gardens open for the day. Saw places that really were 'secret' - would never have suspected something so grand behind the fence. Met my first Umbrella Magnolia that looked quite distinct from the Magnolia I've known all my life. Encountered a house in the spacious section of town where we saw the garage in the back filled with gardening equipment with no driveway leading to it. "Oh, yes, it had a driveway when we bought it. A long, ugly, blacktop driveway all the way from the street cutting the yard in half. Took up all the room. So we dug an underground garage near the street and replaced the top soil. It's right there under the spacious lawn in front of you." Blew our minds. While at it, they added an elevator from the basement-level garage all the way to the third floor. "Back before anyone was doing that," he told us proudly. No crude discussion of the cost of all this, of course.

Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi. Did snack on some raw pecans that DW brought along to tide us over as we wandered. Lunch was a ham sandwich. Dinner was a repeat of the ham, noodles with mushrooms, and broccoli that we'd served the kids the day before. There's still lots of ham left. I lose track that DW and I don't consume as much food as we did when younger. Hope that someday I'll adjust my vision of food; it's sorta discouraging to admit that I'm just no longer capable of consuming a giant hamburger with fries and malted milk. Or a one-pound steak. Or two two-pound lobsters. Or any of the other over-eating that was normal to me and is still happening all around me.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Funny that some days are just 'weird.' When I read my comment to you from yesterday, I noticed that I'd used 'her' instead of 'eir' once when referencing Maia; consistently changing pronouns is hard.

maryann - I wish you'd teach a course on packing at our local Adult Ed classes. The thought of packing to serve the convenience of usage is just so rational.

nationalparker – I dread taking responsibility for our own "Boxes and boxes of old photos." Of all the 'stuff' we own, we really shouldn't burden our kids with photos of folks they're unable to identify. Maybe one or two pictures of us in Iceland watching a glacier calve just to remind them that we once had a life.

Karen (karenrn) - Yay for some time in the pool. Seems thoughtful of you to do your vacuuming while Otis is out for his walk with your DH.

curlyjax - Congrats for accomplishing the move and surviving the move. Yep, a second bathroom sounds like an unusual bonus for a Boston apartment.

Penny. - Yay for a good Reuben sandwich - a favorite. Neat that your SIL's new restaurant is creating good food; hope it is one of the few new restaurants that stay the course.

MrsCalypso - Kudos for taking responsibility per, "I don't like being told what to do in such specific terms." Grab the reins and go for it.

Readers -

How to slow down my eating
 

Morning All!

Over the weekend I read Days 2 & 3- Eat sitting down & give yourself credit.

Both of these need addressing by me, but I know eating while sitting works well for me. I had let that habit slip and it has definitely caused some weight gain.

However, giving myself credit... that's something I didn't do well last time I read the book- much to my downfall.

So I'm giving myself credit- I did not eat standing up, which means no unplanned snacks. Also credit for staying out of the cookies my daughter baked. Those are getting packed to go to a birthday party today so they won't be tempting me anymore!

Today I'll be reading Day 5: Eat slowly and mindfully. This one I’m not sure what to do about. I eat all my meals with my 5 kids and the evening meal with my husband too. Obviously that is a distracting environment where food is not usually the center of attention! Eating with my family is a huge value to me, I’m not giving that up. I guess I’ll settle for making my plate mindfully. But I also know I need to slow down. I’m always the first one finished. Any ideas?

Happy Monday, Coaches

Today is Day 11, Distinguish between Hunger, Desire, and Cravings.

I understand that it's important to learn to differentiate between hunger and other eating triggers. I am willing to work on being mindful of this, but I'm not feeling willing to fill out a worksheet about it multiple times a day. I'm a little worried about my attitude, but that's just how I feel. Unwilling, at this moment. Feedback appreciated.

The writing prompt is: To learn to figure out when I am really hungry, I am going to:... OK, I am going to note my hunger level on a scale of 0-10 before eating. I am also going to rate "desire" and "craving" on the same scale. Craving is a big issue for me. I have a hard time riding out cravings without caving, because they are so emotionally and physically uncomfortable. This is an area I need to work on if I'm going to return to and maintain a healthy weight.

MommaMeli. You can challenge yourself to put your fork down every few bites, and maybe focus on being present with the kids? You can also set little rules like be the last one to start eating, always put your fork down when talking or when actively listening (though with 5, you might never eat!) Or you can watch a clock and take a bigger pause after each 1/4 of your meal. I definitely think just mindfully filling your plate is a good place to start. Kudos to you for addressing your weight while you have such a busy home!

Bill, what a wonderful garden event!

curlyjax, nice that you will have some reflection time this week.

nationalparker, I am working on decluttering more lately, too. It feels good to ship stuff OUT! Sometimes it just doesn't make sense to hold onto stuff that could be fixed or could be useful.

Good morning!

Yesterday was on plan, making it four days of controlled eating. I'm feeling pretty good.

Grocery shopping is done. I'm making a vegetable curry and some rice to go with it. After a long time of not socializing, two friends are coming over for lunch. That should be really nice.

Another quick check-in. Have a great day, everyone!