almost the end
 

Hello Coaches

I got back about an hour ago from my mother's now almost completely empty house. There was an unexpected opportunity to bring some of the furniture to my place and I took it. So now my grandmother's treadle singer sewing machine is coming as well as her buffet hutch (I let the table and chairs go and my mother has the sideboard in her place-more on that in a minute). I also opted to take the 1940's vanity that was mine as a kid and an old wooden table with a drawer (love that) that will be mine in my new "pottery studio" soon to be in my basement. The movers were from St. Vincent de Paul and they have been fantastic. This morning they were gathering the furniture and said they were heading to my town on Thurs and they would bring my stuff, whatever I wanted, and for me to "pay them whatever is in my heart".

You just can't ask for better than that.

So I have tomorrow afternoon to figure out what the heck I am going to do and where I am putting stuff. I have so many boxes of stuff piled high and that's in every room. I have had to do a major cleaning for years. Apparently I am going to focus a bit on that tomorrow. It doesn't have to be perfect it just has to be enough for them to lift and carry stuff and put it down. I have to move all my market stuff from the entry way and the hallway and it's a lot of stuff. I am hoping they will take my unloved green velvet-y love seat. ICK. Would love to see that go byebye:wave:

So I visted my mother's place. It's like she's living in a hotel. The weird part are all the electric scooters parked in the hallways plugged into the wall. I don't know why that shocked me but it did. Interesting. Her apt is very swanky and her cat is so so happy. He likes to be by himself with my mom. I'll be visiting her again soon. I'd like to move in. She seems pretty happy as 4 ladies immediately befriended her and took her under their wing. It's so great for her. She was very isolated at her house and there it's a true community. You can feel it. I think. Anyway that's my first impression; all good.

I have to go now. Just wanted to check in.
Have a good evening gang.

Coaches/Buddies Hanging in with the sickness. It is just a nasty virus, but my voice is now going in and out. I never do well with food when I sick, so I'm doing the best I can, and cleaning up the mess later. It happens. Credit moi for doing the best I can, and planning for later.

Nuxmanga Congrats on putting off eating when you are stressed and aimless. That is huge!!

BillBE Smiling at your swordfish and the giant hit of mercury you just took. Ouch. I've been skipping that morning snack myself, just due to business, and I think it bites me in the rear later in the day. Hope yours is a more natural skip. LOL on the pushups mount and dismount. I look forward to hearing about this torture now that you've got lunges down.

Carla70 Good luck on settling into your diet. I know I do better when I'm following Beck's advice.

ChinaMaine I think your fruit and cheese plate sounds inspired. Sorry it turned into a cheese and fruit plate.

onebyone :hug: on making it through your family situation. It sounds trying.

Erika You and I can hop right on kuhljeanie's wagon and just get *rolling rolling rolling*. The first day is wonderful. I find about 3-4 days gets me back in a habit. Why would that be so hard? I guess that is the whole trick.

RobinW Good on the water and walk yesterday.

kuhljeanie I'm with you on getting back with what works. I think whole, healthy food is a fine goal, but not if it comes at the expense of your weight goals. I know that isn't a popular stand, but I'm always a moderate in these things.

Sorry about the work stress. I feel for you.

Kim in NH I like that you are re-evaluating your food plan. Smart.


Anne

Hi,

Just wanted to let you know I haven't disappeared off the face of the earth. I am trying to refocus and "get my groove back". I'll be back in a few more days. Hope you all understand. I just need to re-focus so I can continue on my journey.

Be back soon
Kara

Wednesday
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Happy Autumnal Equinox (yesterday). OK, self, kindly accept that summer is over and just move on with your life. Stop whining about the blueberries. They're gone. Embrace the fall crop. Dinner last night featured Delicata Squash baked with a touch of Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butter - soooooooo good. CREDIT moi for eating well.

Bought a quarter cup of Nutritional Yeast from the local Health Food store. Was a bit concerned at $29/pound but it was only 31 cents, LOL. Tried it on my basil pesto spaghetti for lunch. It was good; a worthy enough substitute for Parmesan cheese, particularly since it's shelf stable so I can keep the Ziploc baggie in the food section of my bookcase at the office.


Jean (kuhljeanie) - Yay for being in demand at work; Ouch for over-demand. Here's hoping you can find the right way to sign up for a day's work each day and let the overflow be someone else's problem.

onebyone - Neat to get some childhood memory furniture into your life even at the price of fighting some clutter issues. Glad to hear that your mother is happy in her new place - community replacing isolation just gotta be good.

Robin (RobinW) - Ouch that you're still feeling depleted, but Kudos for getting whatever sleep you need to combat it. That's a lot of fallout from a few nights on a mattress cover.

Anne (wndranne) - Ouch for the lingering virus; perhaps you can delegate to your DH the yelling at the kids, LOL. Yep, as I understand it, that "giant hit of mercury" remains with me until I'm cremated when it's returned to the atmosphere where everyone gets an equal chance to be its next host.

Erika (eusebius) - Kudos for getting back on track, especially in the week with three concert performances. Good luck with the overload. I do like your book title, "Siamese Cats Don't Get Fat" (and they are smarter than French women!!) And love the story of the Clever Cat from your DD's book.

Kara (Walking Princess) - You are in the right place posting here; it's definitely the "get my groove back" thread.

Kim (Kim in NH) - Kudos for posting and staying on the "Beckwagon." Hope the changeup works for you.

Readers -

Monday, Tuesday Report
 

Bill Nutritional yeast – never heard of it. But having googled it, it seems interesting. It tastes good?

Kara (Walking Princess) Hello again – here’s to getting your groove back. :wave:

Anne I hope you feel better – it’s great you can plan for getting back in the groove later, rather than beat yourself up now.

one by one I’m heaving a huge sigh of relief that your Mom’s place sounds so nice, both physically and socially. :yay:

I have another busy day ahead of me, so I’ll try to get back into the personals groove tomorrow. :wave: to everyone I couldn’t get to!

Morning Coaches -

Well, I'm on day 3 now, so a habit should be starting shortly ... wndranne, I think you're right about that. Craziness continues, but at least it's slowing down a tiny bit ... I will get a chance to get my hair coloured today, and tomorrow I have only one lesson so far. I plan to take it very slow tomorrow (other than weights) and just chill. Oh, how I need that.

Walk (with run pickups) done for the day. Now just to keep on track with eating. We did a good grocery run last night, so I feel well stocked.

:wave: and :hug: to everyone. You folks are the best.
cheers
Erika

After 2 weeks with no loss I had to look at my diet. I think that sometimes I am a little stubborn and can’t follow a plan without “making it better”, (like I know better than the dieticians.) When I discussed my carb/protein/fat ratios with the staff on my diet plan, they said my protein was way too low. Maybe that is why each day I have been more tired than the next. I had eliminated so much animal protein and not replaced it with plant protein (little voice telling me to stop pretending I am a vegan).

Anyhow…I decided to do this:
-Put the animal protein back in. The amounts are pretty small.
-Work on slowly finding meals with/beans or other plant protein to replace a meal here and there.
-Go to a 6 meal a day plan. This was something I stumbled on that I never acknowledged about myself. I am not a 3 meal a day person though I kept thinking I was. I am eating unhealthy snacks at night because we eat dinner so early and I am always starting lunch at 11:00am as I am hungry. At meals I eat small portions, then I am grazing till the next meal. Since 6 meals (really 3 small main meals and 3 large snacks) is a lot to prepare I am going to stick with a two day rotation for a week or so to simplify things.

Started yesterday and immediately had more energy. I was down 1.5 lbs this morning. My attitude is this seems like the way to go but time will tell. I am going to stay open to making changes if things aren’t working.

BillBlueEyes; Go ahead and whine about the blueberries – I am. Those and the blackberries we had until a few days ago – gone. I like apples and acorn squash too but they are not easy to sprinkle on cereal.
LOL at being down on skis – the non-graceful choices on getting back up are what keep me from falling! I agree about the pushups. My DVD has “hop and pops” - 5 jumping jacks into 5 pushups…needless to say there is some ‘rocking and rolling’ and not much ‘popping’ getting myself back off the floor. Let us know if you master that !!

The leaves around the ponds and swamps are changing up here, but in my yard nothing yet. We had our first light frost, which killed off the pumpkin vines (with nothing but a green golfball to show for it). Guess I have to plant earlier!

Kuhljeanie; Whatever makes things easier for you is the way to go. Losing weight (in my opinion) is far more important than how you get there. (I’ve just come to that realization in the past few days). The prepared meals can end up being a healthier choice that winging it when you’ve not had time to prepare meals. I think the fact that you are open to change is good. As you said, you don’t have to give up all your cooking…and you can work it back in when time allows.

ChinaMaine; What a wonderful Sunday you had…sounds like the power nap was a good choice too. It’s interesting that sometimes that little bit can be so rejuvenating.
Hope that you can find time to take little breaks here and there – can’t imagine having a day of work that long.

WndrAnne; Hope you are back to your old self soon and kick out that virus.

OnebyOne; How nice to see your mother settling so well. What a great group of movers you had also!

Nuxmaga; Yay for knitting over snacking. And with knitting you are making something useful!!

Gardenerjoy; Hope all is well.

RobinW; you are listening and responding to what your body needs to recover, that is the important thing.

Eusebius; Hope the rest of the week is good to you. Enjoy the slow day of chilling – we all need and deserve that once in a while.

Carla70: Sounds like you are off to a great start. I am very slowly moving through the book until each concept sinks in – still on Day 11, but started a few weeks ago. Take your time and really let each concept settle in even if you need more than a day to do it. As far as the diet – it is really about what works for you and your lifestyle. It should be easy enough that you will stick with it, but most diets are a bit of work especially in the beginning. If you count calories, eventually you will get to a point where you will just know by your portion sizes if you are in the right range, but that takes a bit of experience. (I am not near that point at all). If you can find a diet that is close to how you will eat once you have lost the weight that is even better.

WalkingPrincess; Great that you are taking time to refocus.

Have a great day everyone. I am off to get some chores done.

Kim

Good Morning - yesterday wasn't that great of a right food choices for me. But today is a new day. I was gone from work and home and let my guard down when ordering at resturaunt.

Kim - thank you for those encouraging words, keeps me on track.

I have set up a plan for myself and if it doesn't seem to work I will modify it.

I like the Beck solutions and today will revisit day 1&2 and move on to 3 possibly.

Happy Wednesday to everyone, better get back to work, after being gone a day lots to catch up on.

TTFN
Carla

Good Morning :wave:

Not quite so tired today....but I have a busy afternoon and evening. Might not be able to stay up and watch my ghost hunters or the new eastwick I wanted to see. This is when dvr would come in handy(which I dont have) ...Oh well.

We had the mattress on the bed for about 2 weeks, it was at 1.5 weeks I started feeling cruddy.....*knock on wood* it just might be letting up!

Last night I wondered if my stress level is hindering my recovery? I wouldnt doubt it at all. Im still trying to get that under control. Last weekend dh wanted to talk about a few "work" things, I told him no...lets wait until monday. It wasnt that important. But I just didnt want to think about this place when I was trying to get well.

Im op so far and plan to stay that way today. Just finished my lunch and for the first time in a long time, I ate it very slowly! Yah me!

Exercise will not happen today, but I slipped again in my gym attendance. I'd like to be posting again soon that Ive been there!

Have a great day everyone!

criminy, another flyby. still struggling with food desire today, but i don't have to dig too deep to understand it. too much work, not enough downtime, not enough exercise. just got an email about a mandatory con call at 7:30 this evening - just about the time i'm normally giving el nino his bath and getting him ready for bed. sigh. this is just stupid. will take some time - maybe saturday night? to think through my plan for next week. it's just not going to happen between now and then, with class tomorrow night.

up two pounds from the beginning of the week. i'm still averaging a slight daily deficit, so i'm not going to freak out. it's the highest bloat i've recorded in many many months though, and need to do something to bring it back down before i'm back in the 170s. that would suck.

hugs to all - sounds like more than a few of us need one this week! feel better, everybody!

*THWACK!* universe calling
 

Evening coaches

There's an old saying about the universe sending you taps on the shoulder to get your attention and if you don't pay attention you'll get a thwack upside the head with a 2x4.

I feel thwacked about my clutter. I came home from the school to find a letter from the management corporation informing us they are entering our town home for their annual inspection tomorrow between 8 and 5. I swear they just did that but here they go again. They haven't repaired a thing so I don't know why they bother but bother they do. Tomorrow is also when 4 pieces of furniture and about 10boxes and 3 garbage bags of stuff are arriving and I have to corral the two cats and and and...

I'm getting stuff and moving stuff around and throwing stuff out so I'd better get to it.

Becksters think good thoughts for me. I need all the extra help I can get.

I had a good few days of slightly more quiet with out much internet -- less quiet than I might have hoped because life will intervene. Oh well. It was good enough for the moment.

DH and I did well today with a very strange day. Tag-teamed an early supper before our evening class on landscape design. I was ridiculously proud of us for not giving up and getting fast food instead.

Tomorrow's challenge is a potluck supper.

WI: -0.15kgs, Exercise: +30, 959/1200 minutes for September, Food: op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

carla70: welcome! Sounds like your off to a good start. I think the single best secret is to post here every day! The other thing that is working best for me, but I know it doesn't for everyone, is to plan my meals for the next day every evening.

onebyone: glad things seem to be working out with your mother and that you're working through an end of the beginning of this transition. That should give you some breathing room. Sending you good thoughts during your war on clutter.

wndranne: hope you're feeling better soon!

BillBlueEyes: we got Delicata squash for the first time last year -- our CSA provides it. I sliced it into rainbows, marinated it in maple syrup and sesame oil, and threw it on the grill. We liked it so much, we've eaten it that way ever since. Being able to eat the skin is so cool!

ChinaMaine: I'm glad you can report that you took breaks the last two days and are making progress with The Feeling Good Handbook.

eusebius: Yay for Day 3!

Kim in NH: Good job on working out a new plan for yourself. And yay for the instant results! I hope they continue to go well.

RobinW: glad you had a good start to the day and I hope you found enough energy to make it through the rest.

kuhljeanie: I'm doing all the Michael Pollan stuff. It's not unusual for me to spend six hours in a day on the shopping, food prep, and cooking that requires. I don't know how I would do it if I worked. So if it helps to have the blessing from some one who is actually going that route, you have mine! I even have a book recommendation. The Thin Commandments Diet by Stephen Gullo has an appendix with all his favorite diet products in it. His clients apparently do great following that approach.

Thursday
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - I face an event today where there will be a spread of food - right square in the middle of the afternoon. It's a convenient time to schedule the event, and since it's a farewell party, food is required to show we value the guy. My job is to remember that I don't have to eat it.

Food OP, including wild Alaskan salmon for dinner; CREDIT moi. At the gym, CREDIT moi, I'm getting slightly less clumsy getting up from push ups. But wouldn't be confused with a "pop" as mentioned by Kim (Kim in NH), LOL.


Jean (kuhljeanie) - A friend of mine deals with odd-hour mandatory conference calls from his cell phone where ever he is at the moment - including his kids soccer games. Mute is a wonderful invention.

onebyone - Ouch for feeling thwacked about clutter. Yep, when it pours it pours. Sending supportive thoughts - from a guy whose stacks are building up as I type.

Robin (RobinW) - Yay for eating lunch slowly. When you figure out how to reduce stress, let all of us know here on the Beck-Stress thread, LOL.

ChinaMaine - Yay for taking a break for a walk. LOL at "drop off to a dull roar." Yep, the nutritional yeast has a pleasing nutty flavor, not exactly like cheese, but a tasty condiment to add to a pasta.

Erika (eusebius) - Yay, Yay, Yay for day 3. Yep, you're on your way to being in your groove.

Joy (gardenerjoy) - Kudos for grabbing supper rather than fast food. Drooling here over your grilled Delicata Squash. My favorite trick for a potluck is to slowly survey the spread and choose the one food that I couldn't pass up without feeling slighted. That helps to make all the other dishes seem more mundane - repeats of stuff I get on a regular basis. Good luck at your potluck tonight.

Kim (Kim in NH) - Kudos for tweaking your eating plan to make it fit. I, also, found that the three planned snacks helped me to not feel like I just had to eat when meal time arrived. Probably more important, they served when I was tempted by some food because I remembered that I was only a few hours away from a snack or a meal in one direction or the other.

LOL at the thought of sprinkling Acorn Squash on my cereal; Nope, it just doesn't replace blueberries. Sure, I'll let you know when I just "pop" up from the floor; watch your email.


Carla (carla70) - Yep, a restaurant can get me when I'm tired. But you've got it, like Scarlett said, "After all... tomorrow is another day."

Readers -

Wednesday Hump Day
 

gardenerjoy Credit for having a supportive DH who helps you tag-team dinner. Landscape design class – how cool! Nice to see the kgs are continuing to drop off.

one by one Wow – coming into your home for an inspection is pretty intrusive. Hope all goes well…

Kuhljeanie Ouch for ‘ too much work, not enough downtime, not enough exercise’. Sounds like you are managing as best you can under the circumstances…

Robin Kudos for not letting work-talk intrude on personal time. Hopefully your allergic reaction to the mattress topper will be gone completely soon. Credit for being op.

Carla Ordering out at restaurants is tough. Credit for bouncing back so quickly. And it’s terrific you’ve got a plan in place and are working through days 1-3.

Kim (in NH) Great insights on protein and needing 6 ‘meals’ a day. I too find I do best with 3 meails and 1-2 snacks a day, and I have some protein every time I eat. I bet it’ll have a big impact on how you feel.

Erika Let’s hope that the craziness subsides, and that your habit becomes a groove soon.

Bill Yum I love salmon – haven’t had it in a while… Need to change that. Good luck at today’s farewell party.

Good Morning - Last night didn't work out as I wanted as ended up doing some work and then kids issues. So I didn't get look at my workbook or review my cards like I wanted to. I have been still wondering about the plan I want to do, but for right now with my life so hectic I just can't add looking up food counts daily as I know I should do. I am leaning toward doing Beck solutions with the No S diet. The No S diet seems slimplistic but may be effective. Like I said I am still undecided but leaning that way. Until then I am eating healthy and smaller portions. THat is why I am thinking of this plan is portion control is on of my weaknesses.


I think posting here is definately something that helps and hope life slows down a bit so I have more time to read posts and respond better. I don't always have time to respond but always read them.

TTFN
Carla