[gardenerjoy]

My "eat later" strategy worked great today. Once I went past the habitual times for eating, I was able to wait until I was hungry -- which was way later than I anticipated. That might have to do with some stressors in the day, so I'm not counting on a similar experience tomorrow. But I'll take success on Day 1!

DH needs cataract surgery. He's been putting it off for a variety of reasons. But was finally ready to make the pre-op appointment, expecting it to be in a couple of weeks. They offered May 4. Then called to say there was a cancellation and he could come in tomorrow. He's not very happy about it, but we're going tomorrow. Secretly, I think it might be better this way, because he'd just fret about it, so now we'll get it over fast.

That appointment, of course, messes with every plan I had for the week, but I'll make it work.

Exercise +75, 375/1700 minutes for March

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Evening's event was a FREE opera concert at the Boston Public Library, The Power of Women's Voices. Such a grand building with a terrific, small, performance hall. The concert is part of an effort by the Boston Lyric Opera to rectify its years of performing only male composers with mostly male lead roles. Unbalance: Opera schools graduate 70% women; the normal cannon of performed opera has 70% male lead roles. So we heard an hour's worth of arias and songs sung by women, composed by women - many of them women of color. A terrific performance and a mind opener all in one.

Fun trip into downtown Boston in the evening. Have forgotten that we haven't been into Boston after dark since the pandemic hit us three years ago. There's a Walmart span of folks for people watching. Stopped for dinner at CAVA where DW had the Balsamic Date Chicken Bowl and I had the Lentil Avocado Bowl. Ingredients were fresh and tasty. Instant served; ate with students and off-duty police. DoorDash-type 'drivers' were bustling in to take orders somewhere on their bicycles. One woman walked out with her order wearing a bare-shouldered dress with no hat, coat, or gloves. Hope she lived next door. We were bundled; it was in the 30's degrees F. Neat to be reminded that there's an active night crown out there. We happened to walk across the painted finish line for the Boston Marathon - a sacred Boston tradition. It was new to me to see it permanently painted on the street.

Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, because the evening meal, despite being a large bowl, was essentially a salad. All was heaped up on mounds of greens. Daytime excitement was making my way to an REI store (outdoor wear) to replace the gloves that I lost months ago. "Not many gloves left, but what we have is over there." And the ones left included just what I wanted. And I had a $15 credit on my account from a year ago. And I found a parking space right in front of the store. Have to chalk it up as a positive clothes shopping experience.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Congrats to you both for marching forward with the surgery today with the opportunity of a cancelled appointment. Hope all goes well. Good luck re-planning your entire week.

Silverbirch - Good luck with your car's helpful little warning noises. All warning noises should come with a button, "I'VE HEARD YOU NOW SHUT UP." Thanks for the link to a simpler kedgeree. Google just told me that it's easy to buy smoked fish around here - I've just never looked.

maryann - Love your no-noise rule for toys; sanity of parents matters, LOL. Congrats for making decisions that you feel are right even when the system makes you pay real money for them.

curlyjax - Congrats to you for raising a DS ready to test his wings with his own apartment.

Readers -

Chapter 6 Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan

Special Advice for When You Are Sick or Injured

Many dieters get completely derailed when they are indisposed. They view their situation in an all-or-nothing way. Because I'm ailing, I can't follow my diet at all, or Because I can't do my usual exercise, It's not worth doing any.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 164.

[maryann]

BBE: Great night out. "in my next life" I will have a pied a terre 10 feet from the painted marathon line and on the 20th floor.
Gardener-joy: I can sympathize with DH hesitancy. The eyes are so vulnerable. I only have one good eye. I stopped wearing contacts for an extra layer of protection with glasses. Good thoughts for you both today.

I slept until 10:00. Wow. It is what it is. On the agenda of my "hooky" day is a long walk and yoga. I had a Greger breakfast. I researched intermittent fasting. It just doesn't sound like me. I will up water and exercise to try and break this maintenance.

[silverbirch]

It’s cold again here, all of a sudden. We woke up to a bit of snow and it’s -4C now (= 25-ish F) with a very clear sky and a full moon. I worked on rewriting a document for a client today and did 30 mins on and 10 mins off (but doing some ironing). That seemed to keep me warm.

I tried eating later at breakfast and at lunch but I still needed something in the afternoon (and I ate much too much). That was partly because I didn’t eat enough at lunchtime. And, I’m starting to think, it makes sense at the moment.

I’ve made an appointment for the car next Wednesday. It’s the best they could do so that’s fine.

maryann, great to have today off! And CREDIT for recognising that intermittent fasting doesn’t sound like you. You’re the you expert, after all!

gardenerjoy, good news about the cataract operation. Hope all goes/went well today.

Bill, how thrilling to be out and about in downtown Boston in the evening, and going to a concert. Impressive work on the gloves. “A positive clothes shopping experience,” you said.

[gardenerjoy]

DH's cataract surgeries are scheduled. The right eye on March 29 and the left eye on April 19. There are day-after follow-ups and a couple of other follow-ups. So, a lot of appointments to get on the calendar.

DH and the doctor had a lovely conversation about how optics work (probably quite a bit more detailed than non-engineer patients get) and agreed on the lens replacement that they both felt good about. The doctor seems really excited to correct DH's extreme near-sightedness and his severe astigmatism. If it all goes well, this will be life changing. DH is most excited about how much easier it will be to use a microscope.

We had the traditional post-doctor take-out meal. I'm pretty sure when that happened last time, I said that next time, I wouldn't participate. I forgot until after I'd already eaten it. I'll have some opportunities over the next couple of months to practice that new habit.

The later eating trial worked again, but the weird day and the take-out for lunch means that it wasn't a great data point for my experiment.

Exercise +60, 435/1700 minutes for March

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Pranced about all day wearing my new gloves when appropriate. Few items of clothing make me happy; these gloves do. Have no idea what "Polartec Power Stretch Pro fleece" is made of. And have no idea what "4-way stretch" means. But I do understand comfortable, warm, and flexible. And the touch screen in my car works when I'm wearing them.

In my class about comets and asteroids, I learned about the B612 Foundation, named after the home of The Little Prince, dedicated to defending the Earth against asteroids. It's a serious group; collects private money; sponsors a research program to locate and identify asteroids. They're having great success with a program that examines old pictures from telescopes from their data bases. To date, their automated system has properly identified some thousand known asteroids (good check on its ability) and expanded the list by another hundred. Turns out that there's not a lot of government money out looking for the doomsday asteroid that needs to me moved from its orbit before it wipes out planet Earth. They're not kooks; Earth is being bombarded by asteroids daily. Fortunately, most are small. Not like the Chicxulub asteroid that hit the Yucatán Peninsula some 66 million years ago that wiped out the dinosaurs. Instead of worrying about taxes due by April 15th, I can worry about the demise of civilization.


Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, with daytime snacks. Dinner included a new Penzy's spice - hard to believe there's one not in our cupboard already. Dinner conversation devolved into which oils were good for us because, for some reason, I couldn't remember where cotton-seed oil fit. DW's Google searches promptly let us know where they all lined up in the saturated and non-saturated columns; got advised to avoid the "tropical oils", palm and coconut. But was advised that even the worst oil was a tad more healthy than butter. Ouch! The Paleo Diet folks think butter is the best thing you can eat. And the Julia Child Cookbook swims in butter. Food health should be banned from dinner conversation, LOL.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Such good news that you're headed forward with your DH's cataract surgeries. Probably makes his doctor feel great to be able to talk optics with someone who understands.

Silverbirch - Love the notion of interleaving professional writing with ironing. Like you've mastered After the Ecstasy, the Laundry.

maryann - Congrats for letting your body sleep. A long walk sounds good.

Readers -

Chapter 6 Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan

Special Advice for When You Are Sick or Injured

They frequently go back to old habits, gain weight, and have difficulty reestablishing their diet and exercise programs once they are well.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 164.

[curlyjax]

I got going too late yesterday to post. I did manage to do a walk in the afternoon after my therapy appt; I forced myself out in the cold and it felt good. I looked up some more stretches for hip pain and tried out a few. I'm not going to PT as I know I need to stretch and its easy to find that stretches for hip pain/arthritis online. I've been eating within my window but not the right things, and lacking in the veggies. I wrote myself an encouraging note this morning. I think I need some more absolutes like-I only eat dessert on the weekend. I went over the tapping technique with my therapist so I will start trying that, to soothe myself.
Bill-had to laugh at the idea of you prancing around. I'm curious what the new spice is in your cupboard.
Gardenerjoy- yay for cataracts being scheduled, it is indeed life changing from what others have told me.
Maryann- I didn't think fasting would agree with me either, but I do like feeling less sluggish and it helps a bit with that. But then I'm still eating too much junk during my eating window which certainly isn't the point. Sounds like a lovely day off.
Silverbirch-ooh that is cold. It's a challenge to figure out when and how much to eat for sure.

[silverbirch]

It’s still cold here with a biting east wind. We don’t have snow yet but other places do. I saw a few flakes today and saluted them with a beep, beep, beep STOP brake system fault (it's still going strong in the car). The flakes soon disappeared, smartish.

I spent the morning working on clothes with a decluttering client which was good. I then took a few bags to a charity shop and ate my packed lunch (CREDIT for making this). I bought a ‘pan’ at a garden centre for some succulents and came home. Where I made the tea and ate a couple of slices of bread. Yes, I do seem to need something in the late afternoon. Probably the sooner I acknowledge this, the better. Then I can plan it, rather than freelancing which is what I do at present. (Although part of me rather likes that.)

It’s not my turn to make the tea but the SO has hurt his back somehow. I’ve flung together stuffed cabbage (layers of cabbage and sausage) and we’ll have that with baked sweet potatoes. Or not, if I’m not hungry or he isn’t.

gardenerjoy, how encouraging that your DH and the doc had a good conversation about optics. That sounds very reassuring. Good idea to avoid a post-doctor take-out. Will you just have something else?

Bill, your comets and asteroids class sounds good. Ah, yes, butter. I’m trying to avoid it (saturated fat and I like to eat too much of it) but sometimes it is the best fat for a particular thing. There was a long time when it wasn’t in the house much but then the SO decided it was the best thing to grease the bread tins and it made a comeback. I’d like it to make a go-away but I don’t think it will. So I have to work on avoiding it. I wouldn’t say I’d mastered After the Ecstasy, the Laundry It’s all about consistency of practice, it seems to me. Just like food, weight, exercise etc.

curlyjax, I do like the sound of your encouraging note. I could try that. CREDIT (for you, I mean, not me as I haven’t done it yet).

Waving to maryann and Penny!

[maryann]

Good Afternoon, Coaches.

School was good. Kids worked hard and my co teacher took some of the afternoon load. I am getting much more comfortable letting him take the reins.

Food was interesting last night. I walked and then added extra steps at my stand up desk while playing chess. I also did hand weights. At night I was hungry and I realized I was sick of restricting and always being negative of what I put in my mouth. I just let myself eat more of healthy food. I let myself enjoy it. Of course the universe rewarded this behavior with a down tick. WHAT IS THE MESSAGE I AM SUPPOE TO BE GETTING???????

silverbirch: I didn't realize you were a professional declutterer. That is super awesome.

Wave to all.

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - "Dinner will be whatever you have on the table when I get home at 5:30," DW told me after we both realized that her scheduled was squeezed for the evening. Took up the challenge. Pondered all the nearby restaurants but felt all were great places to visit - not to uni-laterally order takeout from. Finally went to the old proven, Whole Foods hot table. Much CREDIT for buying a sane volume of food - just two dishes: chicken Marsala and vegetable biryani with basmati rice. OK, so I mixed cultures. But they made a fine meal when combined with a green salad. DW had to eat and run to an evening garden club meeting. She came home with White Russian Kale seeds.

I had to miss our Wednesday pickup of the (7 yo) DGD because she had to be picked up at noon because her school only did a half-day due to parent-teacher conferences. I couldn't make a noon pickup and attend my morning class. Schools doing half-days throws a monkey wrench into everyone's schedule. When our kids were in school, we managed because I had the only paying job allowing DW to take time off from her non-paying position.

Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, including the takeout dinner, but with daytime snacks. I don't count the samples at Whole Foods: grilled sword fish, and aquaponic lettuce. (Got to sample the lettuce without dressing - just terrific.) I got into the aquaponic lettuce bit, reading how to set up a home system with Tilapia for the fish and varieties of lettuce. Everything the lettuce needs comes from the waste of the fish tank. And the lettuce-cleaned water is returned to the fish in a closed loop system. Claims to be the future of food. It's a compelling story. The folks at Spring Works Farm in Maine just keep adding green houses. And everyone involved is young and good looking.


Silverbirch - I cringe at the typed words, "beep, beep, beep STOP brake system fault" - the real noise would drive me crazy. Yes, "consistency of practice" seems to be the core of all the plans in the world.

maryann - LOL at the poor correlation of good eating behavior and short-term readings from the scale. The UNIVERSE has a sense of humor, I suppose. Neat that your co-teacher is working well with your kids.

curlyjax - Researching your own stretches sounds like a good idea since you're highly motivated. It's hard to incorporate desserts into a food plan.

Readers -

Chapter 6 Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan

Special Advice for When You Are Sick or Injured

They have many of the sabotaging thoughts described in the previous section, and the same Response Cards and skills apply.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 164.

[curlyjax]

Credit for staying OP at work. And credit for eating salad twice. But then I was too hungry after work and while picking up a few groceries and a panera dinner, I bought cookies and got into them. And binged on them later, and ate too much. I am so mad at myself, I'm getting in a bad spiral again. ugh ugh ugh. I'm so glad the days will be getting longer, that will really help. I will stay OP at work today at least.
Bill-I'm amazed they're doing samples at WF again. Those sound wonderful. Yes it is a challenge for parents with all the half days etc, I remember that well.
Silverbirch-your flung together meal sounds great. I've talked myself into eating a supposedly healthier tub of pseudo butter at home, but treat myself to it when I'm out and confronted by a warm roll.
Maryann- good job letting your co teacher take the reins. The universe is bizarre at times!

[silverbirch]

More decluttering work this morning against a backdrop of light snow. I bought a hot chocolate drink and drank it in the car to warm up, and a feta and salad roll which I ate next to the fire at home and then fell asleep for a bit. Work/drink/food/warmth/sleep suited me very well today. And so did the stuffed cabbage which made another meal with a baked potato and Brussels sprouts. I don’t seem to have gone off the rails with food today so that’s worth a CREDIT.

maryann, I don’t know about what the Universe is up to either but perhaps it’s trying to tell you (us) that being positive about eating nice, healthy food is the right way to go. I let out a little cheer when I read “I was sick of restricting and always being negative of what I put in my mouth”. CREDIT. Yes, professional decluttering is now part of my portfolio. It’s quite hard work but I like meeting and helping different people, hearing about their lives and seeing how they live.

Bill, definitely CREDIT for buying a sane amount of food. I'm trying to focus on giving myself a sane amount of food at each meal, and reminding myself that one way of doing this is by taking a moment simply to think about it. Aquaponics does sound very interesting and much better than hydroponics as it is now.

curlyjax, the days are definitely getting longer now so that’s on your side. CREDIT for tuning in to the natural world.

Waving to gardenerjoy and Penny!

[maryann]

Good Afternoon, Coaches.

My co teacher had his observation today. His coordinator from Chico State University said it was one of the best lessons she had seen in a long time. Without taking away credit from my student teacher, I felt really validated that my teaching structures ( in this case debate/discussion circles) are really standout. She repeated many times how great my class was. It took everything I had to say "It is funny but every semester I seem to get only the best kids." I put a great deal of effort into building relationships, establishing accountability for all of us and taking ownership of the learning. It feels good to have adult eyes watch the miracle that teaching high school can be. Yeah!!

On a much smaller scale, I am tickled by my newly reorganized recipe box. I completely ditched all the paper scraps, binders and most of the books. I made new labels that reflect how I plan cooking like Airfryer, Instapot, Vita mix, and not "meat" starch" etc. . . . I just made naked chicken tenders in the Airfryer. They came out perfectly and were a bargain at ten nice pieces for 2.50. That will be four meals for us : pesto pasta and tacos.

I am playing hooky again tomorrow. I am hoping to get up to the snow but it might be too dangerous.

Silverbirch: Organizers of the world unite!!!!!
Curly: As we have said so often here., the importance point to focus on is that you stopped the binge. So many people never stop and are completely overwhelmed.
BBE: Fascinating about the fish, lettuce story. What will happen in the future. So many good ideas floating around.

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Lunch was the tiny bit of leftovers from last night's take out from Whole Foods. I accepted a smallish calorie lunch, CREDIT moi, since I'm quite capable of accepting a largish one when the leftovers are larger. Dinner was half an hour early as we're tying to smoothly merge into Daylight Savings Time instead of the harsh, one-hour cliff on Sunday morning at 2 am. Also trying to go to bed earlier. Wimpy success on both so far. Trying to give myself credit for going to bed "less late" than usual even if it's not exactly "early." I'm ready to drop the switching back and forth. Watch with interest that the US Congress snuggles up to the idea quite often then slithers away.

Excitement was listening to an evening Zoom presentation "Iron in the Sky: Meteorites in Ancient Egypt" catching my current interest in both the Ancient Near East, and Comets and Asteroids. The Egyptians were quite aware. They fully understood that a chunk of iron came from the sky. It could be worked with a hammer without smelting. An object made of meteorite iron was especially valuable, usually available only to royalty. An iron dagger was found in King Tut's tomb. Used the word 'thunder-stones' for meteorites. Even later understood after they had mastered smelting iron from ore, that the two sources of iron were the same thing.


Silverbirch - Thanks for the tip to take a moment to think about eating a sane amount of food before serving yourself. Yay for a second meal from the leftover stuffed cabbage.

maryann - Super Kudos for accepting that you are responsible for your success with your kids. Love that your co-teacher demonstrated that to his auditors. And Congrats for the bargain on chicken tenders.

curlyjax - Always Kudos for staying on plan at work when the temptations are abundant. Our new Penzeys spice is Outrage of Love. Good grief! I just read the description; it's highly political. Didn't know national companies did that sort of thing.

Readers -

Chapter 6 Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan

Special Advice for When You Are Sick or Injured

On the other hand, when dieters are sick, they often don't want to eat as much as usual, and they have the sabotaging thought, I should take advantage of the fact that my appetite is reduced to eat as few calories as possible.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 164.

[curlyjax]

Better day yesterday. I did not eat any sweets at work-I actually was so full I only ate my oatmeal, along with coffee. I talked myself into taking a walk after work, and doing so missed a call from my ob-gyn office. They were following up on the ultrasound I had a month ago-stating I could have adenomyosis which would be causing the uterine pain, and should come in for a consult about it. It was a message from the doc I didn't like, who was covering for my doc the last time. I don't know my doc didn't call me instead so now I'm all muddled over what to do and over thinking everything. Plus a little freaked out. Anyhow I went to my BFF house who made wonderful pork tenderloins and potato-onion-spinach on the stove, and I didn't over eat. I did eat the last 3 cookies when I got home but I'm still pretty sure I had a sensible amount of food for the day.
tonight I'm going to get Japanese food with manfriend so that will be fun, and hopefully not as caloric as say Italian, although I don't do sushi.
Bill-ooh that spice combo looks good, thanks.Your zoom presentation sounds so interesting.
Maryann-awesome to have your teaching methods be validated. Yay for reorganizing the recipe box.
Silverbirch- "Work/drink/food/warmth/sleep suited me very well today"- that sounds fabulous. I can definitely see how organizing would be very interesting work.