Good Morning - I do want to be a better person on this thread just so busy until the end of April it is all I can do to keep up with the Daily Accountability one that has sustained me since I got started..................And I still need to do dog pictures. LOL.

Downsizing is something I REALLY need to get started on. Still also reading Atomic Habits.

Still holding on Maintenance. At 133.8 right now. It seems 132 is a hard limit to hit. (trying to keep bounce between 132 and 136 may have to consider 133 to 137.

Nancy - I have Atomic Habits on my reading list.

Allison - that sounds like a great size for a little sweet. I may look for those next time I'm at Costco.

Ange - yeah,I feel you on the bad food choices. Meh.

Dagmar - great job on the not snacking on the dog sit! :)

I started a new workout last week. Whew.

what's the new workout entail Shannon?
I was back at the gym this morning doing Strength Irn class (basically dumbells and kettlebells, and lots of squats, lunges, pushups etc) and I felt a whole lot better than yesterday, even though quite a few others in the class seemed a bit unenthusiastic - or maybe their lethargy encouraged me to be the smart-arse-try-hard :) Anyway, it was good. And eating was back on track yesterday, so feeling much more positive today (clearly doesn't take me long to swing moods on this lol).

Our Costco carries different things than the US ones but I'll look for those little sweet things too. That could add a bit of variety to things.

I'm having a 100 cal vanilla yogurt cup each evening and a 100 cup fruit thing as my dessert/evening snack. I tried portioning out stuff from larger containers but ended up eating junk instead. With a measured portion/cals I don't have to think about it.

I find the more I "automate" maintenance the more I tend to stay on track with it.

Dagmar :cool:

Mudpie - some other staples they have which I like are the Goodfoods Guacamole and the Kirkland hummus both in individual serving sizes.

AUTOMATICITY

I thought when putting things on habit instead of being spontaneous I was making life dull and boring but the opposite seems true. Automating things that are not critical like our food we eat gives us the freedom for other things. Reading this book called Atomic Habits and really liking it. Where we become a slave is when we cannot breach the automatic for the spontaneous every once in a whil; like a special evening out with friends. For example a super special event but NOT like driving home and, "oh, I forgot to eat lunch here is fast food"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automaticity

I'm going to have to get that book! I knew that this sort of thing occurred, but I didn't know there was a term for it. It makes sense to me that "automating" some routine tasks would lead to better outcomes.

For example, I resist doing some household cleaning tasks, but if I "just do it," the tasks seem to whiz right by.

I'll see if my library has a copy.

I'll check in our public library system for "Atomic Habits" too. Thanks Nancy and Jayell.

Right now I'm reading the "Medical Cannabis Guidebook". I have some space in my yard and am looking at growing my own plants. We're legally allowed to grow 4 plants per household. Seeds are available online as is a ton of advice for every step of the process.

I'm finding buying the stuff to be really expensive so this would be a good alternative for me. Hubby has the thingee to ingest it. If I get really into it I can make my own oil. Seems like a lot of bother to go to to get a good night's sleep without side effects but hey! that can affect everything you do during the waking hours.

It'll be a fun experiment for me. I'm very DIY in some areas and I do like gardening and preserving stuff I grow. :rofl:

Dagmar :beach:

Costco Dessert Photo of the desserts I got at Costco in case you're wondering.

Not found. I'll look them up on their website.

Dagmar :drool:

thanks Granny for the Atomic Habits suggestion - on a whim I bought it on my Kindle before my work trip this week, and am about half way through now (opportunity to read thanks to our plane circling Sydney for about an hour today because the control tower there had 'been evacuated' due to smoke/fire alarm (chaos!).

I really liked the 'identity' part of making a habit stick. In other words if you believe yourself to be a certain kind of person then it makes it very motivating to act in a certain kind of way - rather than just relying on aiming for an end 'goal'. Especially true for Maintainers I suspect, since an end goal is only really achieved at the end of the 'dieting' so then you have to get motivated by other things for the rest of your life, lol, eg seeing yourself as a fit/healthy person, and then using that identity to motivate your habits and behaviours.

(I'd just finished reading a novel by a Nigerian author called "Purple Hibiscus" before that, by Chimamanda Adichie, which is quite a few years old I think, but I really liked it).

Ange - ah for airplane reading! I used to do that all the time on flights for work but travel is down to nothing these days! I need to continue. I must admit I am only halfway through the book and one thing that stuck was coupling a desired habit with something pleasurable to build a good habit. I realized that the habit of popcorn and a TV show in the evening is particuarly powerful (in a bad way) because both habits build on one another. Appreciate you insight. I am about skimming the whole thing first but probably won't have time to finish until I get past my K9 certification test next week (and work has been crazy as well)

I usually can only fit in reading at the end of the day, in bed before sleep, so i tend to go for fiction as I can't remember much of what I read. Starting to get really into the cli-fi (climate science fiction) genre and liking it. I'm reading "The Water Knife" by Paolo Bacigalupi and liking it.

Dagmar :book2:

Been crazy town at work for weeks and (in about an hour) I'm on SPRING BREAK! Mentally and physically exhausted. CANNOT WAIT. My body hurts, I'm tired....

We are flying to Vancouver on Sunday (early flight) and tomorrow I need to pack! Hoping my brain and body function enough to remember everything.... I know my food will be off plan but we are planning mostly sushi and seafood so I'll keep the calories in check more or less. If the weather cooperates we should get a good amount of walking in, but that part is iffy, so hopefully I'll make time for the hotel gym. And sleep. And reading. Just finished The Nightingale (LOVED IT) and started The Great Alone. Love reading on airplanes and trips as I find more time then than usual.

Hopefully our kitties do well with the pet sitter for the first time. The dogs are used to them, but we are still keeping the kittens away from our bigger dog. The kittens are getting braver (their hormones may be starting to kick in-- they're 4 months old) and Biscotti has been trying to figure out how to hop the baby gate. Not sure they're big enough to contend with Ellie yet, as they still get afraid of and hiss at Dewey (the dachshund). Baby steps...

Hope you have fun in Vancouver, Michele! I think the kittens will do fine.

I'm an Audible subscriber. If I try to read I fall asleep. But I get a lot of books "read" when I'm walking, doing the dishes, gardening, etc.

Good weather continues this week, and as usual, I'm making an effort to cut down food intake. If I don't try to lose, I gain. Sad but all too true. At least my weight has been holding pretty steady lately.