Oops, I didn't mean to make that so long, sorry. I am only just now getting in a proper sleep schedule, so I'm not sure what time zone my brain was in when I wrote that.

Thank you all for the sympathies about my tendonitis. I am really still getting used to it being "tendonitis" and not just a stupid sore foot, because to me tendonitis was alway something that athletic people got, the ones that post their mileage in ultrarunner forums and appear in the sports section of the newspaper. (My mother helpfully reminded me that old people get it also.) I was very sore and cranky the first couple of days getting back, because sitting in a plane seat aggravates everything, but it is getting much better now. Have been back at the gym two days now and moving helps a lot, I think. And naproxen. I have also dumped a couple of kilos of water weight with the stiffness so I might be brave enough to try my work pants on tomorrow.

Clippy, I have been teaching at a university in the United Arab Emirates for three years now, I am originally from the midwest US. Most of the teaching faculty at the university are foreigners (about evenly divided between expats from Arab and Anglophone countries) because the country is too young to have many local people doing university teaching yet. Our university has just started the first PhD programs in the country in the last year. My real name is Susanne but I tend to use aliases on the web to throw off curious students and nosy academic administrators.

Shannon, have you tried roasted brussel sprouts? I was a major sprouts hater until my neighbor made them for me, and now I love them. Roasting also does great things for broccoli and zucchini and pretty much any other veggie you can think of.

Birch, thanks for the shoe recommendation, I will look them up. They might even have them here, in Dubai, there are a lot of British brands imported here. I'm glad you like the Bronze Age too! Have you got any interesting sites in your area?

Did the "big" grocery shopping today and got lots of nice fruit and stuff for packed lunches next week. Have to decide which one of my snazzy new insulated lunch bags from Marshalls I'm going to bring the first day of school. Almost as good as a new Trapper Keeper...

I've been suffering from a fairly mild case of plantar fasciitis in my left foot for many months, perhaps even a year. At first I wore a brace at night to keep the tendons pulled taught. All that did was make me sleep worse than I normally do. Now I find that if I wake up at night (which is often) all I need to do is stretch it and the pain is less pronounced when I wake up.

Yesterday I went to get a pedicure. I don't know if the guy noticed that that foot was different, but he really did an extra job massaging that foot. It was a bit painful if not slightly excruciating. But you know what? I haven't had any pain at all today. Granted it's been getting better and better as the months have worn on, but this guy's massage was wonderful! I may have to request him, or make an appointment with him next time (normally I just drop in and get whoever).

My eating has been off. I didn't feel like making a salad last night and we had pasta. Weight up a pound, which I knew it would be. I feel really bad that I didn't try harder to make some goals for my trip. But I did it to myself so I have no one to blame but me. (sigh)

BronzeAger, it's heaving with sites here: cairns, "ritual complexes" and copper mines. Good luck with the shoes. I've realised I need new ones too.

Allison, that massage sounds good. My podiatrist told me to massage my feet morning & evening and to be sure to pull on my toes to straighten them out.

Saef, you have my sympathy. It sounds pretty hard at your mother's.

Friday

Sleep. 7-ish hours

W. -0.5lb which takes me to the same weight as last Friday.

E. Nil. I hurt my shoulder & my back yesterday so I obviously wasn't careful enough. Perhaps I'll do just a little walking tomorrow. Oh, I forgot that I sawed up two pieces of wood - it's that time of year again!

F. Good. The SO made tea (salmon, our own potatoes and peas which I love) but I still had a bowl of porage for supper.

Saturday

Sleep. 9.5 hours. Yes, I was able to sleep in! How far will this replenish my sleep bank is a moot point.

W. -0.75lb. This may be connected with all that sleep. I weighed myself later so I was more dehydrated after the night.

E. Just a very few physio exercises. This minor flare-up is a drag.

F. Pretty good. The SO has made most food so I haven't nibbled out of annoyance at having to do it.

The weather is wet and windy, the tail end of a hurricane apparently. Early equinoctial gales. September is often lovely and warm but this feels, well, autumnal.

Too much celebratory eating and drinking Thurs-Sat, but back on track today. Cleaning out garage for sale next weekend, running up and down stairs with stuff ... Staying busy!

I think busy is good, Becky, though sometimes I don't agree with myself.

Sunday

Sleep. 8.5 hours.

W. No change.

E. Short autumnal stroll. Ridiculous amount of ironing.

F. All right. Lamb casserole was a bit too fatty so I had some porage later to soak it up and help my digestion. Porage (this is made from rolled oats currently) seems important at present so I'm eating it.

bronzeager - hi and welcome! I dealt with shoulder tendonitis for many years - so I can sympathize a bit. In the foot ... owwwww. I also agree with your statement about roasting improving vegetables. Mushrooms, zucchini, green beans, scallions ...

Allison - glad you found a bit of bliss in the massage. Sometimes it's true that sore spots need to be aggravated a little before they remember how to be loose. I have spots in my shoulders like that.

Silverbirch - sounds like you are keeping on with moving forward. I hear you about the agreeing part. I find that a body at rest tends to want to remain at rest - once I kick myself off stationary, it's not too bad. I just have to remind myself not to think about it.

The formal offer letter came at 7pm Sunday night, oddly. The money is satisfactory, and there are many likable things (401k right from day one). As long as we've seen eye-to-eye on the vacation time, which wasn't mentioned explicitly in the letter, all is well. They've given me until Friday to respond. I think October 3 is a good day to start.

I'm going back to calorie counting and daily weighing. I'm just too uncomfortably close to the Overweight category again. TOM started with a roar last night, so I will revisit, update, and be honest with my ticker on Wednesday when the hormonal bloat recedes.

Well done, Becky. I hope all the angles can be covered. Actually, I meant that sometimes I think I'm too busy for my own good and I should just stop and stare. So I do.

"What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?"

(W H Davies)

Monday

Sleep. 7.5 hours.

W. -1lb.

E. Nil. You may laugh but I hurt my shoulder with all that ironing yesterday. I was resting the back and the L shoulder. Now I'm resting the R shoulder as well.

F. Not all right. I ate biscuits and chocolate for my afternoon snack. It's that vicious circle of no exercise = no energy = eat too much food to get through.

My weight went up a pound and stalled with the hospital visit a bit over a week ago, and has only now gotten back to where it was before. Whew!

But I got my blood test results from the hospital stay. My cholesterol is lower now than it was two years ago, when I weighed about the same as I do now--down to 175 from 192. Triglyceride is a little higher, from 62 to 77, but that's not significant. HDL a little lower, but still above 40. Blood glucose is about the same at around 85.

When I was at my lowest weight in 2007, my cholesterol was at 209. That was after 8 months of exercising 5 days a week. Also, I probably eat more animal protein now than I did then! But the other part of the story is, it was a stressful time--we were in the process of moving to a different town.

The biggest change from my high weight to now is in my blood glucose. Before I lost weight initially, my BG was at 109, which is borderline diabetic. Now it has been around 85 or lower for four years. My mom was diabetic (type 2), so that's the number I'm most concerned with.

Jay

Jay - Good numbers!!! Congrats! I am really looking forward to seeing what a reduction in stress does for my cholesterol. I'll have the benefit of bi-annual checks at my new employer. Mine typically hovers around 220-260, much like everyone on my mom's side of the family, but I've been in the low 200's (210-225) since I lost the extra weight.

SB - my issue is getting paralyzed by thinking about all that I should be doing, and then doing nothing. The less I think, the more I do. If I learned to meditate, I'd probably slip into a coma.

Yesterday was a good start. I was below 1700 calories. I'm not sure by exactly how much, since most of dinner was an unthickened, non-creamy tomato-basil soup that I didn't see being made. I do know that it was chock full of homegrown fresh stuff, and was beyond delightful.

I'm having a garage sale this weekend. I expect that I should do well on food; my mom is coming to help and she is in the middle of the 17-Day Diet. She lost 7 1/2 pounds in the first 7 days, so she is unusually motivated to eat well and not drink. I shall not tempt her to stray!

Flying by quickly . . .

Jay, great numbers!

Becky, congrats on the job!

Silver, keep on keeping on!

Today is day 1 of cutting calories for me. I'm switching it up by trying to go for three large meals a day instead of more smaller ones. We'll see how it is. Goal is to have cals for the three be approximately 450, 450, 450. Today I'm at 478 for breakfast and 409 for lunch so far.

Early morning quick post.

Jay, I'm pleased for you about blood glucose level as that's the one you're interested in the most. Can't comment on the others as we measure cholesterol differently and I have little experience of all these tests!

Becky, I just do a little and see where it takes me.

Jessica, hurray for Day 1.

For me, Tuesday was like this.

Sleep. 8.25 hours. Switching light off before 10 is the key for me. I'm starting to feel better.

W. +0.75lb.

E. Some urban strolling. I bought a pair of trousers which I don't really like and which don't flatter me but I only have one warm pair. Those of you who plough through (Jessica, that's "plow thru"! ) my posts will recognise the twice-yearly bleat: no trousers, can't find, don't fit, oh oh oh. It's the same again.

F. Not all right. Bread and jam. No exercise = no energy = eat too much food to get through. I've spent a lot of my little energy on the so-far fruitless car search.


I'm pleased that I seem to be sorting out my sleep. I'll move on to exercise next week when I hope my flare-up has died down.

I'd better get going. Another day on the car project beckons.

I have around 35-40 lbs towards by ultimate goal weight, but for now Im really striving for 5-10 lbs within the next two weeks. Being accountable for my weightloss is a huge motivational boost for me

Sophieeex3

I have finally slipped to the nice round number of 20 pounds down, and I hope to slip right past it very quickly!

silverbirch, in UK units my cholesterol would be 4.525.

Jay

Thanks, Jay, for taking up the millimoles per litre (mmol/L) challenge. Much appreciated.

And that is a very good result, btw! Also very interesting to hear the apparent effect which stress had on your test results.