I agree with you-- good suggestion! I do mix things up somewhat but maybe not enough. This week is going to be hectic for me with work starting up again so I'm not sure how much I'll change this week. I'll see how the week goes and give it some thought.

I won't go into details about the weekend - it was a planned swan song to the inner child, who is going into at least a month-long "time out" as of this morning (classic Monday morning fresh start). Suffice to say - rock concert, Michigan Homebrewers Festival, Pizza Hut Stuffed Crust, Talenti's sea salt caramel gelato.

I'm at 156.0 this morning, not surprisingly. On the 29th is my fitness followup, I will have a thyroid follow up appointment in about 3 weeks, and in 5 weeks I'll have a long weekend in Orlando at a water park. I need to be down 10 from here, as soon as is reasonable and healthy. And that means back to the basics of calorie counting plus exercise. Now.

Good luck on your "time out" Becky! I need a time out as well. I started out good last week but lost my oomph. Beginning anew this morning. I think I need a little hand holding, though.

Yesterday we went to DS's college orientation. Rather boring and I didn't learn anything that I wouldn't have learned by reading it online, but I can see where it was helpful at times. Food was weird. No snacking at all (that much is good). I had a protein bar for breakfast. Lunch was carne asada tacos with all the fixin's--I loaded up on salad and had just a little rice and beans and one taco. We got home late and dinner was macaroni and cheese with chili on top--a "go to" staple for when time is of the essence. Not diet friendly, but I can get it on the table within 15 minutes.

I'm with you Becky and Allison!
I weigh in on Saturday with WW. Last month I weighed in at 126 with clothes on. My goal is to get as close to that as possible by Saturday but I know I won't be there. I was 133 yesterday (post travel). Two Bikram classes and spot on eating yesterday and I was 130 today. So, I'm hoping to get another couple of pounds off possibly.

I also have another deadline. Dh and I are going to Napa overnight the beginning of October. I always indulge when we go there (a few times a year). My goal will be to try to stay on plan until then! My first challenge is this morning already! We are having a staff retreat with yummy breakfast stuff (pot luck). I'm bringing grapes and my plan is to eat NOTHING or just a small amount of fruit.

Monday report

Weighed myself and was the same as last Monday. That's a shame as I have been trying. Still, I've learnt a few things this week, notably to make a pot of tea each and every time I come into the house. I take credit for this finding even though it still has to be rigorously implemented. I have weighed myself every day so I take credit for that.
Unfortunately, cutting down on carbs (specifically bread) has lead to clogged up inner workings.

Saw my trainer & told him I had problems with my feet. He spent the session massaging them and traced it to tight calves as a result of increasing my walking. The solution is obviously to stretch them (calf & soleus) lots. I remember Shannon and I talked about that, years ago. It's been a perennial niggle and I have to give it a lot more attention.

:wave: Let's try to focus today. (I am finding that hard.)

Down 1 today; successfully tracked and counted everything yesterday. Historically the first 3 ought to be off this week. Beginning next Monday after I get my first 7-day average, I'll look into adding some "carrots" for each pound off. I'm also trying a new strategy with delaying breakfast a bit, in homage to the new info on IF. It's always been my habit to eat big in the morning, even though I'm rarely all that hungry. Worth a shot to see if it makes anything easier. My hope is that by eating breakfast later, I can eat lunch later by a couple of hours, and then not be crazy-hungry and prone to overeating at dinner.

Silver, thank you for the details on your exercises. Several of them were prescribed to me when I was having therapy for shoulder tendonitis, once the source of it was discovered to be my incredibly skewed posture. I plan to go back into my stack of paperwork from that time and confirm that I still remember how to do them properly - and then will DO them. Sorry about the inner workings. We have had several frank discussions around here about that. It's entirely possible that that is responsible for your sameness this week. This too (ahem) shall pass. ;)

Michele, we went to Napa for a wedding years ago (it was held at COPIA - so you can guess at the serious indulgence going on there). Beautiful area and yes, if ever there were a place to let loose, that's definitely it. I'm envious that you can go several times a year!

Allison, fortunately there are lots of hands around here! Weird food can still work. I confess to having the last leftover slice of stuffed-crust pizza in my lunch bag for today. I figure I will be going running tonight with the group, and I know exactly how many calories are in the pizza. Even after rounding up I'm still okay. No fear!

I feel I'm being punished today for loosening control and letting up on myself a little yesterday. I decided that after 5 PM, I would shut off the laptop completely, take a nice hot bath & read a little last night. Which I did, and felt very relaxed. I noticed that I woke up fewer times during the night. However, when I log on this morning, I see that the analysts with whom I'm collaborating on two research pieces were working on both from 10 PM through midnight, and so I'll be frantically trying to catch up this morning before my day's meetings kick in.

How to live sanely and with less stress when the people around you don't play by those rules ...

About midmorning yesterday I got really hungry (6-7 AM session on the arc trainer before work definitely increased my appetite) and was at my desk picking hazelnuts from a can of mixed nuts & popping them in my mouth. Someone came by to talk with me and I think I was eating in that fast, ugly, semi-bingeing way. I was so embarrassed to be caught at it. But what he was interested in was the order in which I was eating the mixed nuts. Seems I'm not the only one who combs through the selection & shakes the can to eat one variety at a time. Still I hate people seeing the seriousness with which I take eating & food, when much of the time I am feigning indifference to it, to get out of having to eat the stuff that people bring in as "treats" for one another.

In the same time-zone as you? That is so unhealthy. Has your organisation looked at employee health and productivity at all? There are so many studies which have found that a more relaxed approach and an ability to use the 'off' switch brings great benefits and shows up in the bottom line. There is a business case to be made here: it's so shortsighted to drive workers towards burnout. (I wrote a lot here about US treatment of workers, scope for overview documents in the technology field etc but deleted it as off-topic.)

:hug: saef. They really don't deserve you. Divorce them! :hug:

Saef - I'm finding myself more and more bothered by quality of life questions like 'why are they working at midnight?' and such. We are so driven, we never take time off. When we do take an evening to relax and to rest we then beat ourselves up for our perceived failure. I don't know how to shift the paradigm, though. It isn't something we can do and then no one else, otherwise we fall behind. Frustrating. Birchie is right, we need an 'off' sometimes.

Birchie - I'm glad that the massage helped your feet. And sorry about the complications with your inner workings - mine never work well. I've recently added back in some fiber supplements, pumpkin seeds, am trying once again to sort things out. On the frank side of the conversation, I often remember a comment from Jessica a few years ago when she said her DH made a joke about all boxcars and no train. That makes me snicker a lot these days, as I try to find humor in the situation. :)

Becky - what new info on IF? I've had a lot of people lately tell me I should delay breakfast until closer to noon a few days a week.

Michele - good luck with the retreat. :)

Allison - you can find your oomph again. Your points system is working fabulously.

I think I might be climbing back up out of the sick of the last week. This all started Sunday a week ago - went to bed that night with a horrendous sinus headache. By Monday morning it was bad enough I couldn't lay my head down on anything. Sore throat by Monday night, some minor head congestion and achy feeling by Tuesday night, by Wednesday what felt like a sinus infection - my face was numb from my cheekbones to forehead, stayed that way all weekend and still is a little. Moved into chest and head congestion by Thursday. Went to the doctor Friday - fever, chest congestion, face all swollen, barely able to move myself around. Steroid shot, antibiotics, mucinex, cough medicine, most of the weekend and a good part of yesterday in bed. I went back to work yesterday, but came home early. At work today, determined to make it through the day. I feel better - still short of breath going up and down stairs and a good amount of chest and head congestion I'm trying to clear up. My doctor says she has seen a lot of these cases turn into pneumonia, not sure what is causing it as it doesn't follow any one symptom pattern, and it seems to be everywhere. So anyone with that laundry list of symptoms keep a close eye - we theorized that it might be because we haven't gotten the temperature differences we normally get so allergens haven't been driven out by hot or cold, bacteria and viruses seem to be running all rampant and hitting people a lot harder around here.

I haven't exercised since last Monday, if I can breathe I'll try to get some in today when I get home. I've been trying to eat okay while sick, but there has been some convenience food. Today my headache has come back, which doesn't make me want to do anything reasonably healthy.

Shannon~I feel as if I've had the beginnings of either a sinus infection or a cold for the past two or three weeks. It just won't develop into anything and is not going away. Very maddening and I hate sore throats.

My weight is (I think) back to pre-vacation weight. Still not good, but better.

I took my car in Friday for it's one- year service and they had to keep it (woe is me, my passenger seat doesn't massage as well as the driver seat LOL). They finally called at 5:30 last night but I was beginning dinner and said I'd pick it up this morning. So yesterday and today I had to go to work with DH who leaves at 6:20 (I usually leave at 6:45) and then I had to stay Friday and Monday until he was ready to leave. These long days drive me batty! For instance, I usually leave at 4 PM most days and go home, clean the kitchen up and take care of little piddly things to straighten everything up and get dinner going so that we can eat at about 6 PM. When I get home at 5:30 I can't cram all of it in! Feed the cats, feed the dogs, clean litter boxes, vacuum up pet hair, deal with the mail and pay any bills that came, clean the kitchen, unload the dishwasher...it goes on and on. I didn't get to sit and relax until after 7:30 last night and it took longer for me to "cool down" and really relax. All of that and I had a horrible night's sleep. It's going to be a long day.

shannon, this is article that caught my eye. It's not that it's "new" information, just that there are a few decent reasons to think that for some of us, grazing all day may not be the best tactic. Me, I find that having to eat six times a day quickly becomes a chore and a bore. :D

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/201...ze-weight-loss

saef--don't be swayed by crazy people. Stay with your course. If you go along with the madness, it will soon be expected.

If people come to realize that you are not available before a certain hour or after a certain hour (oh, I don't know, before 7 a.m. and after 8 p.m.? That's more than generous!), then they will learn to deal with it. Really, they will. You have to trust that your contribution is good enough without killing yourself for the company.

I have always believed that if you are working all the time you are not living. Also I'm sure this becomes a problem for some - don't let people take advantage of you and "all your extra free time" because you are single and childfree without pets!

I agree, Krampus. It's like me and DH. We say goodbye in the morning and have a good day and he's off to work. I usually arrive 45 minutes later and say hello. We interact all day long and then we head home. Rarely, and I mean rarely, do we ever discuss work at home and if we do, it is something really minor. We have to draw a line somewhere.

saef Some of my clients are on the "work until we drop" train. They boast about working until 3 a.m., coming home, showering, and going back to work until the following evening. I wonder how many of those many hours they put in are actually productive? Probably about the first 6-7 of the first day.

They earn oodles of money but they are never home to enjoy their beautiful huge houses, pets, or go out to any of the expensive things Toronto offers. Is that living - just working and sleeping?

Not in my book. I work hard but I take some time off. I have learned to say no to clients. Politely but firmly. No one has left. After 8 p.m. at night I don't do anything work related - email, phone, etc. When I am on vacation I don't answer email or a phone. I take a week off every Christmas (after doing sleep overs for 15 years straight) to enjoy the holiday, instead of rushing around in a frantic blur.

We need to carve out some balance in life. Work AND play time. And we have to put limits in place and politely but firmly maintain them.

Dagmar :yoga: