I'm excited that I was able to start exercising again today (beyond just dog walking). Back problems are so tricky in that too little exercise is almost as bad as too much, the balancing act is ridiculous.

Anyway, in addition to dog walking I was on the treadmill for 2 miles (only walking, but faster than with the stop-and-go-pee-constantly dogs) and I did a (very careful) body weight strength routine of squats, reverse lunges, glute bridges, pushups, planks, calf raises, and dips.

I'm trying to ease back into everything, as I've had a terribly painful week. I took a sleep aid last night, though, and finally got a solid chunk of zzzzzzz's which helps so much all the way around.

Food has been a little light so far, but I'm planning a big burrito for dinner that should make it ok.

Jessica, I just bolted down a Kind bar at work for my afternoon hunger slump. I felt slightly bad, like "did I need that?" Then I read this on the wrapper:
"A study by the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center indicates that eating two KIND bars a day helps prevent weight gain".

That made me laugh! A lot can be read into "helps prevent weight gain".

I did shake myself out of my funk and make myself exercise after DSS was in the bathtub. 45 mins on the elliptical - incline and resistance intervals. I'm now 500 steps away from my 10k goal, and feel a lot better.

Weigh myself. Done. Daily fluctuation +1.25lbs.

Make food plan for the day. Done.
B=muesli, cc, semi-skimmed milk, wheatgerm. We’ve run out of frozen summer fruit, the frozen blueberries I bought on offer were mouldy, I took the extra bananas to work yesterday and the others ate the rest of them. No suitable fruit so I doubled up on muesli (dried fruits bit) – see below.*
MS – blood orange, hb egg
L - ? Could be the usual. It saves thinking time, it’s convenient and quick. We’ll see.
AS – blood orange, hb egg
T – lemon chicken orzo soup as per iriswhispers’ recipe. We have all the ingredients apart from orzo pasta. (Orzo is Italian for barley so I suppose the shape of the pasta has given it that name.) But we have stellette (little stars) which I bought for minestrone, so all is well. And it looks as though it’s a quick recipe. Thanks, Iris!

Exercise.
Wondering whether to do none (and just get this wretched research/writing task done) or to break at regular intervals through the day and work through the routine like that. I think I’ll do the second as I know I can’t do this piece without very regular breaks. I may as well do something virtuous and helpful at those points rather than wander around and perhaps nibble something out of boredom.

Keep to food plan as far as I can, and as appropriate. Quite. *There seems to be too much dried fruit in my life at the moment. We always have some in the cupboard but all this exotic stuff is fallout from Christmas. It’s partly linked to leftover ingredients for the wonderful Alsatian dried fruit pear bread I made, and partly because I bought a box for the office as it was reduced in January and I thought it would be good to have something there for emergencies (of which we do have a few – country living, public transport, bad winter weather). You can see the potential pitfalls in the second reasoning. They become real pitfalls when I’m doing a lengthy piece of slightly dreary work and the heating isn't working very well.

I am on the brink of a full, uninterrupted day. I am not going anywhere. Food is planned and straightforward. I should be able to get a lot of work done.

Shannon, good going on the elliptical! Hope all is well with your DH now.

JayZeeJay, beaming good vibes your way.

Michelle, easy does it! (I'm going to look up 'burrito' again today. I really want to try and understand what it is.)

Becky, 'higher level of vigilance' - I like that. Putting on my hi-vis jacket and steel toe-capped boots and tucking my trousers into my socks now. I'm feeling more relaxed about my spreadsheet nowadays. I think I've got to the point where I understand that it's my space to do whatever I want. I've adopted your weekly average idea which I think is brilliant. By the way, your rate of loss is glacial, isn't it? I think mine might be too.

Further to the fear of hunger thing.

I'm not frightened of being hungry at all. Or of doing exercise. What I am concerned about is being able to do all I have to do in a day, and not keeling over (as I did on Monday). Getting the balance right is, for me, hit and miss at first and the keeling over events do take place. Daily responsibilities are still there, though, even when they are shared or delegated. By 'responsibilities' I'm talking about tasks (clearly defined ones and the vaguer ones) and also the 'being present and listening' type of thing which benefits so much from energy, focus and a reasonable frame of mind. I'd rather, to take a real example from last night, be alert when I have to have an unscheduled and snatched telephone conversation with a hurried hospital staff nurse who is understandably using medical terms I've never heard as shorthand, and then translate and relay this to other members of the family, taking on board all their swirling emotions.

A bit hurried but I wanted to say something about dieting/exercising at the same time as juggling non-negotiable duties and responsibilities. And remaining on an even keel, and in good humour.

Morning, everyone.

I've exercised for the day, and am at my desk at work super early and STARVING. The protein sludge shake isn't enough today. I suspect because I didn't eat much yesterday. I lost track, was tense, wasn't feeling hungry until right at bedtime, etc. Sigh. Proud of the exercise, a good menu planned for today. Check.

DH is doing alright - at this point, the best thing we can figure is vertigo.
______________________
Birchie - balance is a hard thing.

JayZeeJay - there was a study on Kind bars preventing weight gain? That makes me snicker.

Michelle - I hope that the exercise goes well today.

Iris - it was me that asked about the recipe. Thanks!

Becky - I also like the heightened level of vigilance.

Even keel, and good humor - a noble goal and I will adopt that for at least the rest of this week, Silverbirch. It will become glacial very soon, yes. I think it's why I take so long to fully commit to the necessary lifestyle changes - there will be months coming up where I might only see a half-pound loss. I am sure I could do it faster (I have) but not without losing that "even keel and good humor" in the process.

Shannon, with all you have going on, 45 minutes on the elliptical is the mark of a truly determined woman. Rock on your bad self! , as my (younger and hipper) GF says.

Mrs. Snark, I know the pull of wanting to just jump back in full force. You're very wise to take it slow. Sending good wishes that your back will let you know it's okay to proceed!

JayZeeJay, that is a pretty funny spin! I've been persuading DS15 (I will step up to insisting if he does not come to the correct conclusion) to take AP Statistics before he graduates. He's definitely not higher-math material, but I think a solid knowledge of statistics will help him navigate the difference between spin and outright lies that he will be exposed to in life. Much more valuable than pre-calculus, and will help him if he does end up leaning toward science.

I am definitely back in the groove on cutting out the stuff that caused my weight creep. Now I need to concentrate on the exercise part of the equation. My Fitbit's done a wonderful job of letting me know how low my baseline is. Incremental changes. Getting to the pool tomorrow is not an option - spouse is out of town and I have to attend a mandatory choir meeting, but I do have an opportunity to spend some time at the gym while DS is at martial arts tomorrow evening. I think I will alert my GF and make plans to meet her there.

Successfully avoided after-dinner snacking yesterday. Forgot to weigh in this morning though, oops.

Morning, all!

Today's exercise, beyond dogs walks, will consist of me walking around the house saying "yeeeeoooouch", and "ooOOoooo" as every muscle in my body lets me know that it has been too long since I did a decent strength routine. Good thing I only did one set of each exercise.

Silverbirch -- Wikipedia has a good definition of burrito. Mine are usually full of mashed beans of some sort (often black beans), raw veggies, and avocado. Sometimes I do hummus and salad in there. Sometimes I do cooked veggies and toast the tortilla part too. Really, whatever is in the fridge can be wrapped in a tortilla and coated with hot sauce, I'm easy.

Becky -- managing food creep is almost all of the battle in my opinion. The exercise is just that "something extra" that brings it all together.

Shannon -- sorry the Sludge didn't totally satisfy, hopefully lunch will get you there! Good job on the morning exercise!

Paperclippy -- great job avoiding junk at the club meeting!

Workout accomplished. Didn't do any cardio beyond a 3-min warmup due to time constraints, but I think I did pretty well on my upper body work. Maybe next week I'll bump up the bench press to using 5# weights?? It's on the smith machine so the bar alone is only like 20# and I'm using a pair of 2.5# weights. I feel like such a wuss when I'm done and these guys come in and load it up with like three sets of 45# weights. (I also get really annoyed when I come in and someone has left the 45# weights on there! They're hard for me to put away!)

Only 2 more nights on night shift... I've been slipping a bit. Had a "snow night" and drank several beers and made a frozen pizza. Back to the real world of daylight Friday!

Hope you don't mind if I join this thread. I'm at goal but I have to work at it every day to stay there. It really motivates me to talk to people who are struggling but winning the struggle! And I like to get and give tips of how to deal with the "eating less" battle.

Welcome, Howlin'! We're always open to new members!

Weigh myself. Done. Daily fluctuation: -0.25lb

Make food plan for the day. Done.
B – muesli, cc, semi-skimmed milk, wheatgerm.
MS – blood orange, hb egg
L – cheese and lime pickle sandwich, carrot.
AS – a few nuts, a few pieces of dried fruit
T – lemon chicken stellette soup

Exercise. Will probably do a simple movement-based flexibility routine.

Keep to food plan as far as I can, and as appropriate. OK. Watch out for mid-afternoon.

I’ve had to change my plans for the day as the DB is still poorly. I had planned a pleasant walk to encourage the IT dept at the university to get a move on with my email account. I’m not going to do this now and it is also sleeting in a fairly determined way.

I’ve got DOMS from yesterday – around the back of my neck and behind my ears. That’s probably because I didn’t pause between deadlift sets. At the time I thought I was being phenomenally and impressively strong. I was really not being very thoughtful. It will hurt all day and affect my posture and therefore my work. There we are … we move onward. And the same regarding assuaging my raging hunger yesterday afternoon, after the weights session. At least I didn't have those awful waves of complete exhaustion. I am getting there.

Iriswhispers – the lemon chicken orzo soup is wonderful! (I’m not sure I’m getting the words in the right order but you know what I mean!) We’re having it again tonight. Thank you for posting the link to the recipe.

Howlin - thanks for joining us. We are the ones who are trying to lose at least 10lbs. Have a look at the Maintainers Fighting the Fluffy thread - they are trying to make sure that one or two or five pounds stay off. Post where you like! We like new people!

Michele - will look at Wikipedia burrito page. Thanks.

Jessica - anything is better than nothing! Mandalinn's sig about lapping the person on the couch always makes me laugh.

Having a lovely morning with a fire in the fireplace. In a couple of hours, I'll be off to Tai Chi class.

That soup sounds like avgolemono soup with chicken, but without egg. A nice soup, very nourishing.

Thinking ahead to the Super Bowl--I like to have snacks planned in advance to avoid mindless munching. Popcorn is my usual go-to. For the moment, any kind of chips are far too dangerous.

If it warms up later, I'll go for a walk.

Have a good day, everyone.

After I scored a low weight a few days back, I had a bit of a spike. I don't know why. But I'm just .4 away from getting back to that low. I'll be super vigilant today.

I still need to get back to exercising, but since I really don't want to get up early I'm going to have to figure out a different way to do it.