Well, I did ask her last night. She did send one. Weird that she lives 1 1/2 hours drive from me and they were all mailed Monday and I didn't get it yet, but relatives in Utah and Texas got theirs. I've always said California mail is slow but this is ridiculous.
Yes, Shannon, you need to chat with us! We are all of the same mind.
I too have been avoiding posting lately, though still following along when I have a chance. It started to feel like I was over-thinking it way too much, and THAT was the big drain on my mental energy. I made myself switch to counting calories recently. When I hit 1400 I stop and that's it, no more thinking about it, it's done. It has actually worked pretty well, I've lost a few pounds. Still haven't bought a wedding dress though.
Up .5 from last Friday, which I'm not going to worry about.
The goal this week is sleep. I tend to blame the glowing screen, but I used to keep reading in bed too late, an hour or more past when I'd planned to shut the book, so it's the same behavior, just with a different medium.
My lesson from the past week is when I really feel wiped out, so wiped out that even walking to the gym feels like it's about all I can do, then a workout is not going to re-energize me. Most of the time, it does, but this past week, on Wednesday evening, it wasn't mental fatigue from my job, it was physical fatigue, too. I ended up just walking on a treadmill, and was even tempted to hold onto the treadmill, like some of the older ladies at the gym. I would have been better of just resting at home at night, as long as that resting did not mean mindlessly eating everything in sight.
Now I know what the indicator lights for that particular condition look like.
Had ear irrigated and it's now clear. Please stop shouting! It was *very* blocked, apparently. But I moved seamlessly into having an appalling virus. I have it. The DB has it. Many in his class are off school. The SO said his nose was feeling a bit blocked up and then had a big sneezing fit.
I'll be back when I'm feeling a bit better.
I think maintenance fatigue's OK. It's just the down before the up. Or should that be the other way round? I'm just coasting for a bit and looking the other way.
I've commented several times in the past about maintenance fatigue. It's real, and it happens. One day you just can't do it any more--the food restriction, calorie counting, whatever--not for more than two weeks, and sometimes less time than that. It's not that you don't want to, it's that you can't sustain the effort now. Part of that is physiological, not just psychological. After long-term restriction, one's body has a drive to eat more.
I believe that I my weight would not be as high as it is now if I hadn't fought it for so long. Other factors contributed, of course--life situations, stress, etc. But restriction, rules, cutoff times, counting, forbidden foods, eating strategies for every life occasion--they don't work for me now. What works (or is working, but very slowly) is stopping eating when satisfied and making sure I get exercise/physical activity.
Have been meaning to comment about this. First of all, JayEll, this is a great approach to take and I'm really very pleased that it's working, albeit slowly. It's working and that's what matters.
Secondly, I've been on 3FC for decades now. Most of you know that I research and write and edit and all that for a living. In English and between other languages. And American and Canadian. So I pay attention.
Getting to the point, I've noticed in the last few months, perhaps a year, the increasing use of the word 'restriction' on this site. With regard to food, obviously. Assuming my observation is right, what do you think's been happening? To my ear it sounds so very severe.
Must go. Have to make tea but I've been meaning to raise this for ages.
Sort of no eating after dinner (day 6). No unplanned snacks, but we celebrated Shabbat after dinner tonight, and I had a piece of challah (~150 cals. worth) with a sip of grape juice, and it was on top of the injera bread that I ate as part of dinner, making it more than I had planned.
Silverbirch, are you talking about restriction on the Maintainers forum, or 3FC in general? And, why does the word bother you? It's a more accurate term than "diet" which just means "the food you eat." And BTW, what is it that you research and write about?
Saef, 2 nights ago I was feeling terribly guilty that I hadn't exercised in 2 days, and even though it was after 9 pm, DH talked me into going to the gym. I NEVER work out that late, and I was feeling pretty tired but figured I would get energized once I got there. Wrong. I ended up feeling lightheaded, achy and exhausted after 20 minutes of half-assed weight lifting. I too would have been much better off just resting at home.
I think our bodies know what they want. It's our darn brains that get in the way! I used to constantly do things from a "should" (my brain) rather than a "want" (my body) perspective and it didn't work. Not that we don't need our brains but they can override our bodies so easily and force us to do things our bodies don't want.
I have avoided my yoga and weights during the time I've had this cold as my energy has been so low I barely make it through my workday. I've been sitting in the living room with a cup of coffee in those 20 minutes in the early morning instead. The first couple of times my brain raced off into all sorts of guilting - called me lazy, told me how I would lose all muscle tone, etc. etc.
By the third day my brain had calmed down and I was able to sit and enjoy watching the light change in the back garden as my cat purred beside me.
I will get back into the routine when I can properly breathe again - sometime next week probably. This has been a necessary and nice break from it all.
Restriction for me means a division within myself. Half of me is exerting authority over the other half and preventing it from doing something. The other half that it's admonishing or regulating wants to do the easy thing, to go for the immediate pleasure.
Oh, and I was right not not to worry about that half pound. It went away overnight, as I checked this morning to confirm whether my bodily sensations had been accurate.
Two days of rain in the forecast, maybe four inches. I don't like that. Our flood wall was approved but is still up for contractors' bids.
I will go downtown with my umbrella and try to enjoy a Caryl Churchill play.
‘Restriction’, to my ear, sounds severe, negative, possibly punitive and slightly technical. It doesn’t sound as though it’s related to the whole person or even, perhaps, that it’s in the person’s overall best interests.
I may hear this because:
· American English uses words which are rather formal (and slightly old-fashioned) to the British ear – as well as all those wonderful casual and slangy words · I came to 3FC through the Lifting part of the site which has a positive, “this is what you – yes, you - can do” vibe to it (or it certainly did when I used to go there a lot) · I’ve never gone in for calorie counting in a big way so I don’t adjust numbers in the way that ‘restriction’ might imply.
I think the word is in more common usage on the Maintainers boards than it was. I’m not so certain about elsewhere because I don’t spend very much time anywhere else apart from the Beck board (and the usage is not in evidence there – although I’ve seen it once in the last few days). This apparently common usage may be because:
· I wasn’t paying attention earlier on and it’s actually been around for ages · It may have become a buzz word · There are more people who count things in the Maintainers group · People in the Maintainers group are feeling more negative, punitive and so on · Food is more abundant in people’s lives than it was (real or apparent) and they have to draw a line against it.
Andrea, thank you for asking about my work. I’m not very good at the elevator speech because I work across different areas. I specialise in, let’s call it, artisanal research and writing of the social, political and economic kind. The main focus of large, serious contracts seems to move on every five years or so. It used to be maritime affairs and now it’s visual impairment. I’m also working quite hard on rendering Italian political text and Spanish gastronomy text into English (and other languages). And, since Christmas, I’ve also done bits on Canadian and US health and wellness statistics, and foreign libel cases, and vintage.
Phew, I didn’t think I’d been very busy but it does look a lot when written down!
Thanks, everyone who got to the end of all this verbiage. Let’s all have a piece of fruit or some vegetables.
Restrict:
1: to confine within bounds: restrain
2: to place under restrictions as to use or distribution
Related words: bar, block, hamper, hinder, impede, obstruct; constrict, contract, lessen, narrow, pinch, squeeze, tighten; quell, repress, suppress.
(From Merriam-Webster Online.)
I suppose it can be used in a positive sense, as in the restriction of crime or restriction of smoking in public buildings. But I am just not using it in relation to food these days.
I don't have food restrictions; I have food choices. Last Saturday a snack buffet was offered at a meeting. I chose the fruit over the red velvet cupcakes. Reason: the fruit combo included fresh pineapple. I like fresh pineapple. I have yet to meet a red velvet cake that I thought was worth eating. (Note: I did not "restrict" myself to fruit. I could have had the cupcake if I'd wanted it.)
When I'm eating I check in frequently to see whether I feel satisfied. If the answer is no, not yet, I keep eating. If the answer is yes, I stop. I didn't eat all the fresh pineapple available; I was done after five chunks.
(In contrast, I'm allergic to clams. I don't "restrict" clams--one is as good, or bad, as a dozen--rather, I don't eat clams at all! Same with alcohol. I don't have one drink, or two drinks. I have no drinks. This is a different matter from placing food restrictions on oneself, either of types or calorie amounts.)
As much as possible, I don't go to war with myself.
Birchie Sounds like you have a really broad knowledge and can write about a great many things. In how many languages are you able to write/translate (if I may be nosy)?
I reached my last week's stated goal (being under 139 by today) and then some. I'm going to be under my "summer" red line by next Monday - 135 lbs.
Notice I'm no longer "hoping" or "wishing" that the weight loss will happen. I am making it happen right now by changing back to healthier habits. Period.
Count me in with the group that finds the word "restriction" vaguely repulsive (using that word in the context of "makes me inclined to go the other way"). I thought JayEll's "I don't go to war with myself" said it quite well - it reminds me of a time not long ago that I used to really talk smack to myself. Maintenance hasn't been about control or restriction for me - it has been about making *better* choices, mostly about food quantity, more consistently.
There's a whole big world out there to enjoy, and being healthier and more fit is my game plan for maximizing what I can experience in whatever time left I have (hopefully, plenty). I've been a much happier person since I started taking the long view of thinking that I have 50 more years to optimize myself.
Report from the state meet: I came away with top 3 finishes in all 6 of the events I swam (1 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze), and best of all - and still a bit mind-blowing to me - I made a national cut time for the first time in my life (50 backstroke = 34.40), plus it appears that I have also qualified in multiple events for FINA Worlds in Montreal this summer. I am outliving my competition!
Last edited by ICUwishing; 03-31-2014 at 08:31 AM.
That is absolutely incredible Becky! How exciting! For some reason, I thought you were more swimming for fun/exercise-- I didn't know you were so fast! Wow!!
present. 
I used to constantly do things from a "should" (my brain) rather than a "want" (my body) perspective and it didn't work. Not that we don't need our brains but they can override our bodies so easily and force us to do things our bodies don't want.
:
I am outliving my competition! 
