[maryann]

Afternoon, Coaches.

School was a little sleepy so I was extra silly. It woke us all up.

I am consciously making a decision to move more in my classroom so I get more steps teaching. Moving more makes me a better teacher. Killed two birds with one stone. I am now dancing while writing this. Ihave decided that to count my steps as exercise I have get between 7500 - 10000steps, So if there are more typos it is a sacrifice I am willing to make. Hit my Targets today.

Yesterday I wrote my Xmas cards, shrink wrapped the walnut goody bags and pasted the mailing labels on them. If anyone doesn't known about Pirate Ship - it is the BEST for home shipping. So easy and now I just have to drop everything off this weekend. I also received the three stamps I ordered from Etsy. One says "homemade by Mary Ann." 1 says happy birthday for the greetings cards I make. They are super cool.

Curly: Credit for tossing food. That is a major win.

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, with only one afternoon snack. Dinner was a new recipe using chicken thighs, cherry tomatoes, noodles, and onions. All things that I love combined into one dish. The excitement was the salad; there was one more serving of premade salad and it finally dawned on me to remove the soggy, wimpy pecans and put new one on top straight from the pantry. It was like I'd restored grace. The lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and red bell pepper slices didn't care that they were premade. I'd have a hard time being a chef at a restaurant if I only thought of the right thing to do the day after, LOL.

Excitement was the arrival of the 1.3 gallon jug of Plantskydd Animal Repellent that DW will use in a space near some woods that has a major deer problem. This stuff is nasty; it contains dried blood. Feel creepy to have it in the house. But deer are an increasing problem. Fences don't deter them; they jump quite high. I'm going to petition the city council to allow Pumas to be reintroduced into the area. The deer need a natural enemy. And Pumas don't nibble at the new buds of planted shrubs. (Seems important to call them Pumas because "cougars" and "mountain lions" sound ferocious.)



Joy (gardenerjoy) - Leftover bread pudding wouldn't be a problem for me. Nor is un-leftover bread pudding. But stuffing, Oh stuffing, I do like good stuffing. I do hope your heroine can crack the code in 980 words.

maryann - LOL at you dancing around your classroom to wake them up from their post-Thanksgiving stupor. It's so neat that Etsy can easily get you just the stamps you want.

Karen (karenrn) - Congrats for being able to make Buttery Cashew Brittle without eating it all yourself.

curlyjax - Kudos for dumping the excess Thanksgiving food that you didn't want to eat. That's hard to do.

Penny. - Ouch for the loss of a chicken - that's a bummer. Hope your headache just melts away on its own.

Readers -

Chapter 6 Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan

Confidently Follow Your Plan at Social Events

I know dieters who initially thought it was impossible to stay in control at social events, but the more they practiced and learned from their mistakes, the better and better every one of them became at this kind of challenging situation.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 151.

[curlyjax]

I really like the chiropractor I went to, he was very hands on and my neck felt like it moved better after. He also stretched out my sore hip a bit. I'm going to keep going for a few weeks. It's a little scary to have someone yanking on you and cracking things, it does take some trust.
I delivered DD home to Boston last night later than I wanted, then came home and finished off the pumpkin pie. I still have squash soup that my friend made but that has some redeeming qualities anyhow.
Karen- I'm going to look at the Rich Roll youtube at some point, it does sound interesting. Hope Otis's spot continues to be okay.
Gardenerjoy- that looks like a good way to ease into strength training. My understanding is you're not supposed to do it everyday, to let the muscles repair, so I wonder how she works around that-maybe different muscles each time?
Penny- ooh, I've done that myself with dairy products, so annoying.
Maryann-wow, you are on the ball with your presents! I'm in denial that Christmas is in a month.
Bill-that dish does sound good. Puma is a cute sounded animal, that's true!

[karenrn]

Good morning coaches,

I hiked ten miles yesterday and it was great. I wore long pants and wore more clothing cause it was cold at the start, but I hiked from one trailhead to another and changed into shorts there. I only saw one guy when I was heading out and didn't see anyone else until I was almost at the other trailhead. Funny you mentioned puma, Bill, cause I know there is one out where I was and I was actually thinking about it yesterday. There is a new housing development near the trail and I was thinking how the animals are having less and less space to be their home. Luckily I took a good look around and didn't see a puma. Actually I never have, but I have seen bobcats which are much smaller and not a problem. I had a little larger lunch and added a snack of some pepitas, but overall very good day food wise. This morning I will finally make some cashew brittle and then go to the class at the gym at 10.

My weight is in a holding pattern for the most part because I am obviously eating at a maintenance level. The good news is that I have pretty much maintained at a few pounds under or over 135 since last April. Thanks to the Happy Scale ap I have the data to review. I believe I am really healthy and I will continue to work on the last 10 pounds, but the bigger goal is to maintain and to continue with healthy habits. Yesterday on my hike I listened to Rich Roll and Dr. Peter Attia. The topic was, "What practices should one adopt now to live longer, stronger, more agile, cognitively fit and simply better than previously thought possible?" I love this stuff and I figure it can't be a problem to focus on it. Whereas others have promoted nutrition for the brain, Dr. Attia thinks exercise is the single biggest elixir for brain health. I'll continue to focus on both.

Curlyjax I have the Plantyou cookbook. I think I picked it up at Costco and I also follow her on Instagram. I've made a few of the salad dressings and the bowls. I think the pictures in the book are really nice for inspiration. I hope the chiropractor continues to be helpful.

Bill We have a banquette seating area in the kitchen where our table is and there are 4 large deep drawers under the seating area. I keep Christmas containers, baking ingredients and things in the drawers. When I make the cashew brittle I put it in gallon zip lock freezer bags and put it in the drawer until I'm getting it out of the house. It's one of those out of sight out of mind things and seems to work well.

Maryann Moving more in the classroom sounds like a good habit to have. I bet you can get a whole lot of steps in a day. Thanks for the tip on Pirate Ship. I don't ship much, but it's good information to have.

Penny I hope you're feeling better today. I used to get headaches kind of regularly, but very rarely now. Are you drinking enough water? I'm sure stress doesn't help much either.

GardenerJoy Can I have Bill's serving of bread pudding? I love it and don't think a vegan recipe would fit the bill. I do go off my program for a sweet here and there, so bread pudding may have to be on the list. Thanks for the link to the strength training You Tube. The instructor at my class encourages extra work in between classes and I know I can use all the help I can get on upper body particularly.

[gardenerjoy]

Today, I'm celebrating that I reached 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo! I still have a few more scenes to write before reaching THE END. Plus, I really want the sense of completion that I'll get from writing every day in November. So, I'll be back at it early tomorrow morning.
Exercise +45, 1590/1700 minutes for November

Wordcount +1059, 50,079/50,000 words for November

curlyjax: Yes, the Improved Health routine focuses on different muscle groups each day. Also, as I learned from Penny and karenrn, there's a big range of things that can build muscles. Only the kind that takes a muscle to fatigue requires a day of recovery. After all, physical therapists will assign muscle-building exercises to do every day or, even, twice a day. I'm still a little confused on all that, but I've started paying more attention to when my body says it needs a break and not worrying too much that I did a dozen squats one day and that my yoga the next day focused on chair pose. My legs seem perfectly capable of handling that.

karenrn: I make bread pudding with almond milk, these days, since DH's tummy is happier without dairy. So, it would just need to be the eggs to find a substitute for. It might be worth experimenting with egg substitute or other binders. Or just leaving it out. I dumped a can of pumpkin in for the flavor -- that might have been a fine binder, even if I'd left out the egg.

[maryann]

Good Afternoon, Coaches.

A good day teaching. Things seem easy and I wonder if I am rigorous enough. We did work through the UN Sustainable Goals in freshman geo and I did tell them they need to make a plan to make the world a better place in order to get an A. Maybe it is enough that the kids are relaxed and with a good sense of humor.

Super credit for walking from school to pick my car up at the dealership after the oil change. I easily hit 10,000 steps. I wore appropriate clothes for the journey. There are good sidewalk everywhere in my town yet walking seems to indicate homeless. Crazy. Hit my targets today if I clothes the kitchen at 6:30. It should be easy because I chair the 6:00 meeting.

OK 2 new things today:
1. I tried chicken and waffle chips. No kidding. They are made of chicken breasts with a maple flavor. High protein and low carb. They were NOT bad actually. Much better than pork rinds.
2. I bought Godiva dark choc. pearls to take that sweet urge I have away in the afternoon. We'll see.

BBE: We lottery deer tags around here to manage the masses. How would that work in the city?
Karen: It is just wonderful you have maintained that low weight.
Joy: Credit on 50,000 words. Now the shaping begins.
Curly: Pumpkin pie is the best.

[Penny.]

Good evening!

I'm on track a few days now, fingers crossed I can hold on to it. My son brought another chicken home from his grocery job and I was able to make the chicken noodle soup. It's delicious.

Curly, enjoy your quiet time at home now that the kids are back to school!

Bill, it's wild to me that you have so many deer in the city. I hope the stinky stuff works.

Joy, congratulations on winding down your writing month and reaching your goal.

Maryann, you sound energized! I'm glad you're feeling good and meeting your targets. Congrats on getting your holiday gits and cards done.

Karen, kudos for maintaining your healthy weight. You sure have been thriving on the plant based eating! Obviously, I'm taking a break. lol

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Dinner was grilled salmon with the odd addition of leftover sausage stuffing along with the cranberry relish and cranberry chutney. Weird mix. The salmon refused to be happy with stuffing. All just got eaten as two separate meals. The last half-serving of sausage stuffing went to the compost heap to give the worms a late Thanksgiving. Only the cranberry adornments are left from Thanksgiving. They can be added to anything - even on toast for breakfast.

My class on Black writers was about the poet Audre Lorde; I'd never heard of her. In a class of a dozen, none of us had. She unflinchingly writes for Black, lesbian, feminists. I find poetry a challenge, and angry poetry even more so. But typical of her one liners often quoted, "The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house." Isn't like gently reading, "Whose woods these are I think I know." which most folks can remember, and relate to, the final line, "And miles to go before I sleep." Guess I have to accept that life is short - it's unlikely that I'll get comfortable reading poetry when there's an ever increasing stack of other books to read.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - I join you "celebrating that I reached 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo!" Pretty marvelous achievement. Do you know how many others who start the month get to 50,000 words?

maryann - The notion of Chicken and Waffle chips just blows my mind - had to google for that picture. I wish you well with your students trying to wend a path between relaxed and working to make the world a better place.

Karen (karenrn) - Glad you didn't encounter a puma; I'd hate to meet one anywhere other than my imagination. Great idea to store your cashew brittle in a seldom used drawer.

curlyjax - Agree, "It's a little scary to have someone yanking on you and cracking things, it does take some trust." Congrats for having that trust.

Penny. - Great ending to the story that your DS brought home a chicken from work to save the chicken soup. From the news, there are a bunch of cities that open up hunting season to try to cull the excess deer that are overrunning cities.

Readers -

Chapter 6 Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan

Create a Social Eating Mindset

Put the "social" back in social events. Think of them as people event - as a chance to catch up or meet someone new.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 151.

[curlyjax]

Yesterday I got a quick haircut after work which was fun. I always enjoy the whir of activity there and chatting with my hairdresser. At home I checked my bank balance and discovered some unofficial charges on my debit card, ugh. It was too late to contact someone to cancel it so I sent an email and switched the money to another account; I normally use this one account just for venmo and gym fees, I don’t know if I even have the card anymore. Anyhow its something to deal with today. I called a friend to vent and destress about it.

I had 4 chocolate kisses at work but that was it, and I didn’t buy anything sweet when I grabbed some milk at a convenience store. I’m back to the very basics like that.
Karen- it is scary how the animals have less room. Every once in awhile there is a bear sighting here in the burbs, and I tell my son not to walk alone at night not because of people but coyotes. Who in theory wouldn’t attack a human but you never know. Sweets out of sight out of mind is always a good plan.
Gardenerjoy- that makes sense, that you’re not pushing the muscles to the point of fatigue. I always wondered about that.
Maryann- too funny that walking seems to indicate homelessness.
Penny-glad you were able to make your chicken soup after all.
Bill- I added the leftover cranberry sauce to my oatmeal this morning, OMGis that good!

[gardenerjoy]

Today, I'm celebrating that I reached THE END of my NaNoWriMo project. NaNoWriMo says that this is the tenth time that I've won! This is the first time that I intend to start the next draft on December 1.

Exercise +65, 1655/1700 minutes for November
Wordcount +2039, 52,118/50,000 words for November

BillBlueEyes: NaNoWriMo quit reporting the number of winners a few years ago and removed those kinds of stats from their website. Instead, they prefer to publish how close they came to their fundraising goal. I found a page that has older stats and it looks like the highest percentage of winners ever achieved was 19% of participants. I'm not sure if 'participant' means people who registered or people who wrote at least one word.

maryann, Penny, and BillBlueEyes: I volunteered for the Missouri Department of Conservation the year that they agreed to cull a population of deer in a suburb by trapping and moving the animals -- what the kind-hearted citizens wanted. More than half of the deer died within a few days of being transported. So that was the end of that experiment. Some sites in St. Louis County host "managed hunts" that are even more controlled than the deer tags that are used in rural areas. Most of the managed hunts are only for bow-hunters. They happen at places like the large military cemetery, land that is owned by the Missouri Department of Conservation, and very large parks.

maryann: I read a book several years about functional fitness that argued that we should normalize movement -- lunges at the bus stop, stretches while pumping gas. I haven't seen much evidence that is happening, but it gets me to the attitude of doing it anyway. So good for you for walking to pick up your car.

[karenrn]

Good afternoon coaches,

Food was on plan and weight is stable. I had a really nice hike this morning, the same one we did Sunday, but with a friend who is a snowbird from Calgary. I haven't seen her since last spring. She is delightful and is a going concern a couple years older than I am. We talked about realizing that we know we need to be mindful of how we're spending our time since we have far more behind us than we have in front of us.

After coming home and having lunch I was feeling a bit like I needed something more to eat. Luckily I distracted myself for the shortest time and the feeling was gone. Good reminder that I need to do that and not just give in.
Otis and I had a nice walk this afternoon (so nice when it's cool enough to do that), and then I made another batch of candy. Dh is enjoying it, which is fine, and I am leaving it alone.

GardenerJoy Congratulations on completing the NaNoWriMo project. Do you have a plan for how much time you will spend each day on your next draft?

Curlyjax I love going to the hair salon too. I did cancel my November appointment though because my hair doesn't seem to grow when I keep getting it cut. I'm hoping to just get it long enough to pull it back and it's just about there. I can always cut it again if I don't like it. Right now I'm growing out my bangs too, so it doesn't matter too much if I get it cut or not.

Bill I can't imagine stuffing not going with any food. Well that's how much I like stuffing anyway.

Penny Glad you've got a couple of days under your belt. Every little stretch like that helps. For me it helps my confidence just to know I can rein it in again when I need to rather than have that out of control feeling.

Maryann That seems so weird that walking equates to homeless. We don't have many that walk for errands I don't think, but lots of walking when it's not too hot.

[maryann]

Good Afternoon, Coaches.

Last night I closed the kitchen as promised and felt hungry. I remained steadfast. Yeah for going to bed slightly hungry. It has been a longtime. I am doing yoga to go to fitness minutes and going to my schools wrestling tournament for relaxation minutes.

I am leaving for Michigan on Friday morning. I have a sub. I am always a little off-put by a sub. DS has his concert on Sat so it will be worth it.

Wave to all.

[BillBlueEyes]

Please join us as this discussion continues on:

Beck Diet For Life/Solution – December 2022 – Support, Discussion, Buddy/Coach

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