Weighed in at 148.9 on my second morning at the hotel, and spent another day packing, though we went out for lunch. I had overly grilled salmon on top of a green salad. Tonight, back at the room, I can't seem to drink enough iced tea or water.
Tomorrow I'm going to figure out how to get to my gym and then drive into the office for a full day of work. This has complicated my commute. I think I'll park at my apartment, walk to the gym as usual, then shower and dress there and depart for work from there. At least the bedroom and the bathroom are intact, though the rooms look like a warehouse of all the stuff in the kitchen boxed up and put elsewhere.
I'm still wrestling with the increase weights/eat like a horse conundrum. I'll keep puzzling it over. Perhaps I should plan a lot more food that day, divided into frequent meals. I'm hoping that this will decrease in ferocity as I get more into the groove.
Saef, I'm feeling a long way from divine at the moment, but thank you!
The cameras are a neat piece of technology and because the backup cameras will be mandated in the next couple of years, we are a bit more insulated from the ups and downs of the industry. I do worry that many drivers are assuming this relieves them from any sort of responsibility of actually looking around them. I passed a small group of people walking through downtown the other day, all staring intently at their phones while they walked. My downtown has absolutely gorgeous blooming flowers, interesting art sculptures, a beautiful mill pond filled with birds, and bunches of interesting shops that always change their window displays. Part of my strategy of dealing with this weight gain is to just get out there and start reconnecting with reality again. If sitting is truly the new smoking, I probably have the equivalent of at least a 2-pack-a-day habit to break.
I finished my 8K without much of a fuss. The course was challenging but straightforward. My biggest victory was not walking any of a 3-hill series known somewhat infamously as "The Bradleys". I decided about halfway there that it was something I was ready to do, and needed to do - to begin chalking up little wins and meeting targets. Kept my head down, concentrated on higher turnover and smaller steps ... and up I went!
So it begins again. I'm comically sore and stiff today, and probably have a whole lot more of that to look forward to in the coming weeks and months. Onward!
Monday. It's a start. I decided to start tracking my meals at MFP again. I'll also track my exercise which I'll start doing this afternoon. So here's the plan for today:
B-Oikos Triple Zero yogurt (banana) with 1/4 c blueberries
L-deli Santa Fe salad, Activia yogurt
D-butternut squash pasta carbonara
E-30 minutes treadmill
Reconnecting with reality and experience not mediated by a screen -- that sounds like what everyone's challenge has now become.
I'm still at 148.9 today, feeling better for having sent an email to the co-op property management company stating that I intend not to pay my maintenance fees for September, because my apartment is not habitable and I'm staying at a hotel.
I'm at the office in CT, which is blessedly calm and normal, while my mother is at my apartment, still moving stuff or cleaning off appliances preparatory to moving them. None of them are damaged, though they are coated with plaster dust.
The management company is sending THEIR remediation/contractor guy to my property today sometime and my mother will give that guy an earful. I just called her at my apartment at 11:30 AM and their guy still hasn't shown up. Meanwhile the mold is growing & the smell gets worse every day.
The contractor never showed up at my apartment. My mother is angry.
I'm always surprised by behavior like this. If I made appointments on my job and did not show up for them, do you know how long I would last here?
He rescheduled the walk-through for 10 AM tomorrow. I have a new product meeting that I absolutely must attend, to get updated on what my partner did while I was out, so the contractor must face my angry mother alone, God help him. She has a scorched-earth policy with service providers which I do not, myself, subscribe to. I like people to get along and build relationships, even though I'll let you know if I am disappointed.
I feel like someone who keeps their hands clean while unleashing a cruel and wily retainer on someone who's done them wrong.
I'm back from a rather grueling 4-day trip from mid-Michigan to New York City and back by car. We took our oldest DS to college (NYU). 14 hours in each direction, spread out over 2 1/2 days each, with a little over 24 hours in NYC in between. I am feeling both physically and emotionally drained. I didn't know I could feel so many emotions at once- both proud and jealous, sad and joyful, all at the same time. I keep hearing the Disney song "Let It Go" in my head in his voice (not coincidentally, one of his favorite songs, which he sang incessantly the year it came out).
Silverbirch, the only thing that works for "weight lifting hunger" for me is a high-protein, moderate-fat mini-meal of at least 200 cals. eaten almost immediately after I'm done. A full-fat or reduced-fat (but NOT nonfat) greek yogurt works well for me, as does tuna or salmon salad made with a tablespoon of mayonnaise and eaten with a veggie like bell pepper or carrot. What is definitely not helpful is eating a pile of carbs without much protein or fat. In fact, eating grain products even WITH protein and fat seems to make me hungry again a short while later, so no granola with the yogurt or crackers with the tuna.
Saef, I seem to have that sort of experience with contractors and handymen too. Many of them really do view an appointment as a suggestion, and a work agreement only binding as long as something better doesn't come along. I'm not all that sorry your mom will be there to berate him tomorrow.
Interesting about what works for you after lifting which is more or less what I've always done, apart from the fat. Adding that in is definitely worth trying. It's usually been an apple + protein (usually low-fat cottage cheese) as that's fairly portable. I'll try normal cottage cheese or the tuna/mayo/carrot idea. Full-fat Greek yogurt would be good too as we always have that at home. I quite agree about the non fruit and veg carbs. Eating them to stop hunger backfires every time, and gives me 'carb coma' too.
ETA that I went along the tuna mayo + apple route. I feel pretty good at the moment.
Last edited by silverbirch; 08-30-2016 at 07:00 AM.
Weigh in at 150.1 this morning. I had a pretty heavy salad from the company's salad bar at lunch yesterday.
Today my lower back already feels sore and stiff after weightlifting, which is NOT a good sign. It wasn't from regular exercise, it was from an accident. I'm so preoccupied these days, I did not set up the safety catches on the Smith machine when I was squatting. I finished my last rep on the second set, didn't roll my hands far enough to hook up the bar and started to back out from under it when it came down and I crumpled slowly until a nearby guy noticed and grabbed the thing. I am sure that I arched my back while going down, thus the strain.
It's ibuprofen and my first day "working from home" in the hotel. My mother's headed off to meet the contractor.
I heard from the co-op president last night. The co-op's insurance adjuster hasn't created a report yet, so nothing can happen. The contractor will only be walking through and giving a possible estimate. I'm worried because I've Googled him and he is not a remediation expert like the guy my insurer sent over last Friday.
I have to not brood over this stuff when my mind ought to be on heavy iron or my job. I have to learn to compartmentalize.
Take care of yourself, Saef!! Hope the contractor shows today.
Andrea-- I understand your emotions on the college thing. Our youngest is in her last semester now. I can't believe it has gone so quickly though we've been doing the college thing since 2008 when oldest dd started. We only have two more payments to make. Thank God. I really want to trade my car in but want to be done financially with college first. The AC crapped out again. I don't have time for this.
Michele, when the boys were small, I joked about my Decade in Diapers due to our family planning (1998, 2001 and 2005, with the youngest not being potty trained until past the age of 3). Now, I'm going to have the Decade in College, which will be less messy but way way more expensive. And possibly more emotionally draining. :>/
Andrea, I envy all NYU students whenever I'm down in the village for the Strand or off-Broadway or the many wonderful independent movie theaters. What a cool school to attend. Many decades ago, in the dark ages of my youth, it was a different matter. What a powerhouse it has become through its increased endowment and all the city land grabs it's executed so well.
I'm down a bit at 149.5, which I'm glad to see. The hotel puts on occasional events in the lobby in the evenings, like taco night and hamburgers on the grill, from which I've scrounged cut-up grilled chicken and plain cooked hamburger patties to supplement my meals.
The contractor who walked through yesterday asked my mother about what kind of kitchen I wanted. When she asked me, I went completely blank. I don't have any dream kitchen in mind at all. Mine was sufficient for my needs and aesthetically pleasing and I stopped thinking about it after it was finished four years ago, post-Hurricane-Irene disaster. Probably I ought to go on Pinterest and see what the latest fads are, adopt them wholesale ("Give me everything that Chip and Joanna Gaines put in their kitchens!! Everything, exactly!!") so that a few years from now, the kitchen will look outdated like it could be labeled an exhibit from 2016 when the next wave of fads come through in 2020.
Chip & Joanna Gaines! Oh, I binge on that show! But a lot of the style that they do isn't quite what I'd like for myself. But it'd sure be fun to have someone design something for me. I really don't have much "taste" when it comes to design or decorating. I think in the past few years, thing have come together in my house to show some sort of decoration, but really, it's just stuff I've acquired and thrown together.
Three days into this "new" diet-ish thing and my weight remains unchanged. I didn't exercise yesterday due to soreness and too many chores to tackle after work. But eating and calories are spot-on. I'm going to take this one day at a time until it comes together.
Meanwhile, a little stress at work. An employee (he's been here a year) has been having excessive absences. We wrote him up last week due to 8 absences in 6 weeks (some sick, some to see different lawyers to deal with two garnishments and his wanting to declare bankruptcy--which I don't think will erase the garnishments) and he called in sick again today. He owes us over $1000 (we do employee loans for them to buy equipment) that he hasn't made a payment on for two months. We're about to suck up the debt and fire his @33. I hate doing that to anyone (and especially him as he's got SEVEN kids) but we just can't go on like this.
Saef-- Pinterest is great for ideas! Have fun looking! Hope your back is feeling better!
Sorry about your employee stress, Allison. Some people just revolve around drama.
Wanted to share a funny animal story that has nothing to do with weight, so skip if you're not interested!
I visited my dd in Houston last weekend. She has a cat and her service dog and she recently adopted our friends' cat, that had been inside/outside. They are getting used to each other and the cat is learning to just be an inside cat. She had her first ever bath and nail trim and was super sweet about it. While I was there we found evidence of a mouse in her pantry. We comically tried unsuccessfully to capture it and berated the loser cats for not doing their job. We ended up using a trap after the tiny mouse ran all over the house with us squealing.
Fast forward to yesterday. Dh was home prepping for his colonoscopy. Ellie, the Doberman went outside and was very interested in our jasmine bushes. Dh called her in and she stood in the yard with a giant rat hanging out of her mouth. He told her "drop" which she did. Dead as a doornail. Dd is giving her cats quite a hard time that our dog could grab a rat that quick and neither of them could catch a tiny mouse that had probably been living in the house for awhile!
I'm grumpy because my car's AC once again is out. Dh is bringing it back to the dealer but it's very inconvenient and I'll have to get him after work, which will likely negate my exercise yet again. I so want to trade my car in but we need to finish paying for this last semester of tuition before we incur any more expenses.
