[curlyjax]

I had a nice lunch with friend #2 yesterday who I haven’t seen in awhile, (of the 4 friends i’m seeing this weekend!) and I brought home half my food as it was a huge portion. I did have an unplanned cookie when I stopped at Whole Foods to buy flowers. I ‘ve been having bits of this and that the past few days and will get back to more of a plan on tuesday. I’m bringing the flowers as a hostess present today as I’m off for an overnight jaunt with friend #3; we’re staying at her mom’s house which is on the beach, close to the Cape but fortunately not on it as that is a nightmare of traffic etc. My friend’s brother, cousin and a few others will be there so it will be a full house! So this morning I need to zip around to get ready. It’s only a hour and 15 minutes or so, so an easy drive, and there should be fireworks tonight, yay. I will focus on having a nice time but not overdo it with the food.
Gardenerjoy- interesting about the wheat. That youtuber sounds good, i’ll have to check her out!
Maryann- It’s much harder to control foods when you’re traveling, I would give yourself some slack for that! Hopefully things are okay with DS.
Karen- youtube is indeed so helpful! Wow, that is a pretty good price for surgery.
Nationalparker-yay for a safe trip with good moods. I don’t see that movie advertised around here either, i’m bummed as i would like to see it.
Bill-I love deviled eggs, yum. I’m hoping we get a few nice non humid days after the thunderstorms.

[karenrn]

Good morning coaches,

Food has been on plan and weight is at a new low but ever so slightly. I hiked Sunrise this morning by myself. There was a group of regulars behind me, but close. They kept me on the run. Nearing the top there are two ways to go and I chose the long way so I could slow down. When I got to the top they said they were working hard to catch me on the way up. I told them I was working hard to get to the shoulder so I could go the other way to slow down a bit. Anyway, I got my heart rate up and had a good hike. No big plans for the rest of the day. I'm going to make the red lentil Dahl for dinner, we really liked it. I'll make a spinach salad with strawberries and blueberries to go with it.

The vacuum won't be able to be fixed, but I could purchase a new part for $75. That isn't much, but I've never really liked that vacuum. I think we'll look at getting another one. No big rush, I'll use the one we have in the meantime.

You all have a nice day, I'll get to personals tomorrow.

[gardenerjoy]

I got jarred out of some complacency with maryann's statement about drawing a line in the sand. I've gained weight in recent weeks, with much less reason than maryann has, since I haven't done any traveling or had other disruptions to my routine. (Although, a desire for some disruption to my routine might be part of the problem). I've been in denial about both what the scale will read in the rare moment that I'm willing to check and about what I'm eating.

Underneath the denial is some entitlement thinking.

"I exercise a lot, so I should get to eat whatever I want." I know from years of experience that exercise helps but not as much as I wish it did and certainly not enough that I can eat whatever I want.

"I'm hungry now, so I'm going to eat this meal or snack two hours earlier than usual. It will be fine." No, it won't. I'll want something to eat two hours later when I would usually eat. This thinking has been the source of most of my off plan eating in recent weeks, in the form of extra snacks because all my timing is off from what used to work well for me.

So, I identified the problem. Now I'm going to take the rest of the holiday weekend to think through some solutions. How can I declare independence from unhelpful thoughts and bad habits?

Exercise +45, 120/1600 minutes for July

[Penny.]

Good morning!

Weight is up and I'm needing to change things up. As usual, when I want to increase my exercise, it conflicts with my desire to lose weight through calorie restrictions (as also mentioned by Joy).

I happened on an interview with a Registered Dietician who specializes in yo-yo dieters/binge eaters and she had some good points. It's definitely giving me things to think about. Instagram interview link

Also, I ordered a new pair of sneakers, still trying to find good walking/hiking shoes that don't contribute to my ongoing foot issues.

Joy, the fresh ground bread sounds divine. I'd be buying an electric grinder too.

Karen, how funny about the hiking group pushing you to go faster. I do that for a little bit but then usually have to admit defeat and let them pass.

Curly, I agree 1:1 socializing is nice for this introvert too. Have a great 4th of july trip.

[maryann]

Good morning, Coaches.

Best intentions were met with only partial success in terms of my new commitment. OK some of the best wars were won starting with a less than stellar opening battle.

Positive Credits
I did attend a zoom OA meeting.
I did yoga
I did not stop at Starbucks.
I did adopt a plan that I know will work fo me:
No Bliss Point manufactured foods
No mac and Cheese
No nut butters.
all other foods fall into red, yellow and green light categories.

Oh Wells:
I ate a non dairy ice cream bar with the rationalization that it was oat milk. (Nice try)
I ate Mac and Cheese (What are the chances a last minute invite to SIL had mac and cheese there?)

So my first day abstaining is today. I woke up at 10 a.m. so that means I have 10 hours in the books The scale up here is different than back home so I weighed and will keep track of relative weight movement.

A couple of take away thoughts from the OA meeting. Opening and closing the refrigerator resolves no anxiety. That was good for me to hear. Another said she was here because she doesn't want to suffer the physical disability of extra weight that her mother does. I had a hard time pulling myself off the SUP board. I need to weigh less so it will be easier.

The weather is perfect here in Tahoe. I plan a hike, bike and maybe a SUP outing but I don't want to go anywhere near the crowds of town or the lake. I will SUP in our little reservoir behind the house.

Karen: I didn't mean I am throwing the Daily Dozen out. I mean I have been ignoring it. I want to get back to it. I had cinnamon in my coffee. Check number 1.

Oh by the way: I wanted to pass on a super cool thing I learned while thrifting the high brow Hospice thrift store here in Tahoe. If you take a picture of a jewelry item, you can go into google photos, touch the middle button and it searches the web for that exact thing. I am easily able to source maker and price if finds a match . The thrift manager showed me. Also I am buying my first silver testing kit. SO COOL. I'll show you an example of the pendant I bought yesterday. https://ibb.co/19ZcJ85 I was wondering why it was rather an exorbitant $32 .Then I sourced it with Google photos and found it was hand made Native American. selling for $150. Super cool. I have a friend who love cardinals and it will be the perfect Xmas gift.

[nationalparker]

Hello, coaches! Back home to a brown lawn that went dormant in the high temps here but my petsitter kept my outdoor potted plants alive. I grouped them all together shade and sun and asked her to hit them every day we didn't get rain. I think that was every day. I ran out to Sam's when it opened this morning to get fruits and veg (watermelon, grapes, mixed greens, tomatoes, onions, bell pepper 6 pk, cukes, bananas and potatoes - think that was it). Made baked beans and cut up yellow potatoes with about a tbps total of oil that roasted while the beans baked, and had a large salad for a late lunch. We can nosh off the beans for several days. Cut up all of the watermelon and washed grapes, so food is easily accessible. I will do a stir fry tonight. We picked up a veggie tray on the road and one of the raw veg was snap peas and they were hard as a rock and stringy even after pulling the strings off. We have a few pieces of broccoli left as well, so with a lot of other veg, we'll be set. Trying hard to combine the frugal with the healthy.

Scale this morning showed I stayed about that same - I'll weigh again tomorrow and then I think I'll wait to weigh until August. Can I do it? I will have to remove the scale. I am not losing weight while beating myself up watching it increase when home, so will try a different route. I will be able to tell from clothes if I'm wildly increasing. I used to weigh every morning when maintaining and that was fine ... for a decade. The past decade, though, Nope. I'm alternately doing great or thinking what the heck. Goal for July will be to weigh in the first week of August and be down five pounds. I'm now at 175. For me, that's a lofty goal to lose more than a half pound a week, but maybe I'm not trying much and not expecting much. But if I increase the plants in my diet and not just add in plant-based meat subs, which I like for ease of meal prep, but aren't particularly healthy and are just SUBS, I should be able to make a little progress. I'm good with that as part of a meal now and then but not as often as I'd leaned on them while cleaning out the in-laws' house. I view my activity as hopefully just getting healthier vs. weight loss. I used to fiddle with numbers too too much when in WW years and years ago. It got to be too mental.

Maryann - I love that feature on my phone and use it for identifying birds that visit my backyard, as well as many of my MIL's knickknacks - sell or donate or donate with a note about it. One time a few years ago I took a photo of Jenna Bush Hager's blouse on morning tv because I thought it was just gorgeous and flattering and was wondering where I could find it. Turns out it was $300+ and out of my league by about $275, but at least I knew. i laugh bc I rarely watch morning tv, then I did and wanted something I saw. Good luck with DS - sounds like you have good intuition in not waiting long to seek a professional's input and that's so valuable.

Karen - Credits to you for being able to out-maneuver/out run the hikers on your trail - you're in great shape! Also kudos for the new low weight ... good for me to remember that slow and steady is the goal. I bought a new vac two years ago I think, a Dyson on a major deal at Sam's ... and then bought my sister one bc I loved this one so much. I had long railed against them because of the price, but this deal and the promo that it picks up animal fur easily and better was the selling point to me. My old vac is about 12 years old and was $60 from Amazon. Still kept that to do a few oddball things that it works great on. DH wants to donate it and save the 1x4' of space. So far, I'm winning that battle. As the vacuumer I should be the only voting party.

Penny - I hope the sneakers are a good fit! I ordered a few pair and kept the best earlier this year. Thank you for the link; always interested in new info!

GardenerJoy - I hope you come up with thoughts to combat the extra bites that are winding their way in. I still use your "kitchen is closed" when I find myself rummaging around for something, even if it's fruit when I'm not hungry. I move the fruit to my next meal if I'm not hungry. If hungry, I'm ok with it. But for me, between meals eating is from boredom or stress, not hunger. If you feel a peckish day coming on, can you split your breakfast into two smaller meals? Or lunch, etc.?

CurlyJax - Have a wonderful time on your getaway. Sounds like a lot of fun, esp since you'll know folks. I have been to the Cape around the 4th and can attest to just sitting in traffic for ages, trying to get up to Provincetown from Bourne. Never again.

Bill - You point out a worry of mine for the next big trip. I booked tickets to visit my sister in Colorado on Southwest over Labor Day week - we're not traveling on the main days, but midweek there and back. But I thought it could be chancey. She'll be coming here in a few weeks, though, so I'll enjoy that first. I had to laugh at your "dump finds" line. I read something years ago from a Canadian cartoonist who said you know you're living remotely when you get dressed up to go to the dump. I can see that. I am hoping we get some thunder and rain - the lawn is now dormant. At least we don't need to mow if I'm looking on the bright side.

MommaMeli - I just planted some tomato seeds before my trip as I'd forgotten I had an envelope of them from a great tomato last year. They germinated and now are about 4" tall so I have a long way to go before red tomatoes to enjoy. Do your kids enjoy veg gardening with you? It sounds like it could be part of the home schooling curriculum a la Alice Waters How is your 2 yo faring with the sinus infection?

Mrs. Calypso - Looking forward to hearing how it's going for you. I hope you're adjusting to the summer schedule smoothly. I think i need to get out my pink book and start back up where I keep stopping. I find I enjoy popping around in there as reminders; some things I adopt as helpful, other things i leave. I do know I need to rework/redo my reasons to lose weight.

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Had a delightful visit with the (2 yo) DFGD, DS, and DIL. She played in a tub of water on a low bench - like a water play table. When she served me tea, she poured it directly into my hand, "She's still learning the subtleties of that," our DIL laughed. By going through two gates, one can walk all the way around the house. She loves this; it's magic. Went several times, taking a different adult with her each time.

My job after dinner was to walk somewhere to get a tomato suitable for our veggieburgers for our 4th of July BBQ. Was a pleasant walk, CREDIT moi, in the now-cool evening. Needed a tomato capable of producing two perfect full-bun-sized round slices. Voila, found a perfect heritage tomato ($3.99 per pound) among the picked over stuff looking like the remnants for a store about to be closed for a day. Felt like I'd won the lottery. Then found our favorite cereal at a super price - saving enough to pay for the tomato. Walked home like a hunter who'd bagged a FREE tomato.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Thanks for the reminder about "entitlement thinking." It so insidiously creeps in.

maryann - Neat silver pendant. One of the great joys about visiting the American Southwest is the abundance of hand-crafted Native American silver. Thanks for "Opening and closing the refrigerator resolves no anxiety."

nationalparker – Ouch for a brown lawn; maybe it's time to consider some of maryann's Xeriscaping. (The link is just for the joy of it.) Congrats for maintaining your weight during a long vacation.

Karen (karenrn) - Ouch for having to decide whether to fix an old vacuum cleaner that you don't really like. LOL at your "race" with the other hikers.

curlyjax - Kudos for bringing home half of your restaurant lunch. Have a nice drive to the almost-Cape Cod. Weather is predicted to be good for viewing fireworks.

Penny. - Yay for new sneakers as encouragement to get moving. Another reason to be grateful about the 4th of July is that you don't have to call them "trainers." I bristle every time I hear a Brit using that word.

Readers -

Chapter 6 Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan

challenging situation skills

Before the Event
3. Develop an eating plan.
[In this book] you will find a general plan, based on your Stage 2 dinner menu. Use this plan or create your own, making sure to keep to the same calorie level as your usual meal. Add it to your Diet Notebook under the heading, "General Plan for Eating Out." Note that I didn't include Add-On Calories. Most of the time, there will be extra fat in your meal that you don't know about.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 133.

[gardenerjoy]

The timing of my meals and snacks was better yesterday. I think I'll focus on that again, today. Tomorrow, I'll want to focus on portion sizes. I usually do better if I get one thing right and then, move on to the next.

We have no holiday plans which will give me time for contemplation and make food choices easier.

Exercise +40, 160/1600 minutes for July

[Penny.]

Good morning!

Yesterday included some shopping and food prep. It's my husband's turn to cook but I have accepted that he only makes things like mac n cheese and not the additional healthier option I usually include.

I decided I'm going to focus on vegan, mostly whole foods again and not worry about calories or weightloss for a while.

Nationalparker, welcome back home! Congrats on not gaining any weight. That's hard to do with traveling.

Bill, I kind of like the Canadian use of "runners" for sneakers.

Have a great day, everyone!

[maryann]

Good morning, Coaches.

Yesterday was much improved for food. I stayed away from red light foods. I did have flour with dinner but didn't go crazy. That is why it is yellow light. Most of the time it is ok. day two I hope to refine. Lovely walk to the meadow behind my cabin. It was filled with purple lupin. DH and I will go back today while I SUP.

We watched Anything Everywhere All At Once. Wow, brain overload and especially difficult to process watching on my MacPro with the subtitles. I cannot say it was pleasant but I do appreciate the underlying theme of the Nihilist viewpoint often promoted by teens/twenties who search out often harmful experiences just to make themselves feel alive ( ie TicToc Challenges.) I will have to think about it a little more. I also appreciate the action figure hero was an elderly Asian woman - refreshing from the Marvel Movies beautiful bodies penchant.

Karen: You cracked me up with pushing yourself on the trail. In Machu Pichu, I tried to often be in the lead of the ladies 15 years younger just as a motivation.
Penny: I agree that sometimes you just need to do something different to get some traction.
Nationalparker: Awesome you can use that google photo search function. How did I never hear of it before?
BBE: Appealing to the science in you - I ordered my first metal testing kit for gold and silver. Fascinating stuff.

Have a good fourth everyone

[karenrn]

Good morning coaches,

Food was on plan and weight moving down. It is good to know that when I tighten it up a bit I do lose weight. The thing is I'm not hungry, I am eating plenty, I am just cutting out those things that were going in my mouth mindlessly. I hiked Sunrise today with my competitive spirit and kept ahead of the group. I am listening to Un-Do It! again by Dean Ornish and his wife. It helps me stay motivated to do the right things for good health.

I'm feeling like my tummy is flatter so I tried on my pair of silk slacks and they zip easily. They have a side zipper and last time I put them on there was still some gap. They don't have any give, so I can't have them tight at all. I have only lost a couple of pounds since I tried them on last, but I've been doing the plank for 2 months and now I'm drinking the vinegar water a couple of times a day. Something is working, not sure what.

Maryann So nice that you can be at Tahoe with the more pleasant temps. Hope you're having fun on the SUP today. Thanks for clarifying the Daily Dozen. I wondered about that. You had a nice long list of credits. It's easy to go from right on track to wondering "can I get back on track?", and we can.

Penny I really like the vegan whole foods plan. For me it is easy to have lots of things around that are all healthy and I can have the quantity that I desire as long as I have lots of veggies. I have it so easy though without needing to feed children.

GardenerJoy We have no holiday plans either and I'm pretty fine with that. I agree with you about taking one step at a time with the habits.

Bill Your little one sounds like a busy little cutie. Good job on the shopping. I love it when I find a bargain on something we use regularly.

Nationalparker I hope it feels good to be home. I love to go, but I always love to come home too. I love to have at least my fruit prepped and ready to eat when I get home from the grocery store, especially watermelon. Are you still getting good ones?

Waving to Curlyjax, MommaMeli and Mrs Calypso.

[MommaMeli]

Quick post just to catch up over the holiday weekend.

It looks like the over-eating monster caught me a few times over the weekend- once at dinner with the husband and then some homemade cookies last night. I'm going to re-read that chapter in the morning and see if I can apply the principals for situations like these. However, I know for certain I'm eating less overall, and especially less processed foods. I'm doing a good job of sticking to one serving most times. Credit

DD-2's sinus infection is not really getting better. I messaged the ENT nurse who says the swelling may take 4-6 weeks to go down. DH & I need to decide whether to be content with that or to go see the pediatrician in the morning for re-assurance & a second opinion. She isn't sleeping well (because she's a finger-sucker who can't breathe out of her mouth at night), she's teething, and she's cranky. Poor kid. Also, she ONLY wants me at night. First question every morning is, "Where's Daddy?" but once the sun goes down she rejects him like a stranger. Sigh...

No personals- I've got to wake her from her nap in hopes of getting better sleep for us both tonight! Wave to all, and enjoy the holiday!

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Walked one of the nature trails at Middlesex Fells Reservation with DW, CREDIT moi. A lovely, meandering, two-hour excursion in ideal weather. Although the parking lots were jammed full, we luckily got a spot by arriving just as a car was leaving. We only encountered a dozen folks over the whole time; it was quiet - as if we had the forest to ourselves. For serious aerobic walking, one shouldn't choose a biologist as a companion. After DW, again, pointed out a field of Canada mayflowers, "The most common plant on earth," the engineer in me had the thought, If these are the most common plant on earth, why do we keep stopping to look at them? Then the 40+ year married side of me simply admired them, kept his thoughts to himself, and continued on our journey. Saw a few Green herons, but few other birds. DW pulled out of her backpack a container of pecan halves and dried cranberries - "deconstructed trail mix." Was a welcomed snack since we were hiking straight through my normal lunch time.

Eating was on plan with only planned snacks, CREDIT moi. Dinner was on the patio of Impossible Burgers on Brioche rolls with slabs of red tomato and grilled sweet onion. All served alongside a cold pasta salad and our standard green salad. Just perfect. With the watermelon served with dinner and my normal evening snack, I was pushing my boundaries. This morning the scale says that I need to get back in line. Perhaps I'm suffering from what Joy (gardenerjoy) refers to as entitlement.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - It's rather nice to not have big plans on a holiday. Hope you enjoyed your quiet time.

maryann - Your Anything Everywhere All At Once looks like one intense movie. Would have to be in the right mood for that one. I'm so jealous of your metal detecting kits for gold and silver. I'm reminded that you are headed into a business where you are the one who has to tell folks that their precious item is fake metal.

Karen (karenrn) - Congrats for fitting into a pair of silk slacks - a great sign of progress.

Penny. - Will be neat to focus on getting the vegan food that you want. Yep, I like "runners" better than "trainers" or "sneakers." "Sneakers" sounds like about to do something naughty, LOL.

MommaMeli - Kudos for serious progress, "I know for certain I'm eating less overall, and especially less processed foods." Do hope your DD's sinus infection clears itself - it's so hard feeling sick when you're two-years-old and want to be conquering the world. Love the switch between daddy's girl and mommy's girl.

Readers -

Chapter 6 Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan

challenging situation skills

Before the Event
4. Review your Advantages Deck. In addition to reading your deck each morning, pull it out immediately before going into a challenging situation. You may even need to take a break during an even and go outside or to a restroom to read it again.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 133.

[MommaMeli]

Today I’m analyzing what went wrong this past weekend. Even after posting yesterday, I continued to over-eat. I worked on my food plan for today this morning, and I saw the following things:
1. Even though I wrote my food plan out before the weekend started, I did not review it every morning or night.
2. I did not put quantities down.
3. I did not acknowledge the difficult food situations I would be in (4th of July potluck) and give myself license to add a dessert or a reasonable quantity of
snack food. I just wrote down an all-healthy choices food plan that was too hard to stick to. So I rebelled and instead of eating some chips and dip or 2
cookies, I ate chips and dip AND 4 cookies.
4. I think I did this on purpose because I wanted to over-eat.

I have a good idea about what to do about 1-3. But 4 scares me a little. I think it is normal for motivation to wax and wane, but I am known to self-sabotage. Anyone else have this problem. I have to do this even when I don’t want to if I’m going to achieve and maintain a lower weight.

On a personal note, taking DD-2 back to the doctor this morning. We see the ENT in a week, but I need some reassurance that the antibiotic is working. I’m leaving DH with all the kids this Thursday to go to a homeschool convention. I know DH can handle it, but it is hard to leave the little one when she’s not 100%.

Bill If these are the most common plant on earth, why do we keep stopping to look at them? - Hilarious!

karen Yay for those slacks. I’ll bet silk is cool and comfortable in the summer. Clothes are always a better indicator than the scale.

maryann I don’t know if I’ve ever seen purple lupin, but I read a wonderful children’s book that was either non-fiction or based on a true story about a woman who planted so much of it as an effort to beautify and leave a mark on the world. Very inspiring. I looked it up so I’ll know what it looks like next time I encounter it, and I thought it looks like a bluebonnet. Beautiful!

penny I like the idea of giving yourself permission to take a weight loss break. Do you find it hard to start back? Or does posting on these boards keep you accountable.

joy I usually do better if I get one thing right and then, move on to the next. I think this is a great strategy.

nationalparker Sounds like you have done some good post-vacation food prep. I find it hard to switch over and can continue my vacation eating mentality for weeks if I don’t watch it.

[gardenerjoy]

Our holiday was quiet, except for the part where the neighbors and then, the city set off explosives. I spent a bunch of my day researching what Independence Day was like in Washington DC in 1943 for my novel. No fireworks. The gunpowder was needed elsewhere.

We expect a high today of 101 and a low tonight of 80. We need groceries and I'll need some service at a counter that isn't staffed until 10am. So, that's when I intend to arrive, to get it done as early in the day as possible. I have a plan for exercise. Improved Health put out a dance video yesterday featuring 80s hits (

30 minute 3000 step Cardio Workout with popular and fun RETRO music from the '80s - YouTube

30 minute 3000 step Cardio Workout with popular and fun RETRO music from the '80s - YouTube

) -- that will be fun.

Exercise +55, 215/1600 minutes for July

MommaMeli: I definitely relate to doing it on purpose because of a (kinda secret) desire to overeat. The analysis you did definitely helps. When I get focused on implementing solutions to identified problems 1 through 3, that distracts me just long enough to get some healthy habits going. Eventually, the healthy habits drown out the unhealthy ones, including the habitual desire to overeat. Sometimes this mantra helps, "I deserve a healthy body," which reminds me that there are other things that I desire besides overeating and I can choose which one I prioritize.