I have had some vacation days this week. It is harder for me to stay on plan when I don't have my usual routine. There have been some days this week, when I sort of didn't feel like sticking to things as much as I had been. I found myself wanting to munch more than usual. I sort of gave in and ate without being as careful. I wasn't going to write it down, but decided to do it anyway just to kind of see ~ when I was in one of these moods ~ just how far off I was from where I aimed to be. I discovered that when I thought I had been bad, it ended up that I hadn't done as badly as I thought I might have. I think in my old ways, that if I hadn't written it down, I would have thought ~ well I have blown this day, and just eaten like crazy.

The best thing I discovered is that when I did an average for a week ~ even though I was higher on some days, it averaged out at 1475 calories ~ still under the 1500 that I am supposed to be doing. That was really surprising to me ~ I guess maybe I don't do as badly as I think I do sometimes, and shouldn't be thinking that I have messed up giving me license to "blow it".

Also, someone on here had talked about giving themselves kind of a range of calories, and so I have been doing this and it seems to help me not to get down on myself if I go over that 1500 on some days.

Now if I could find some magic thing to make me "love" exercise ~ LOL ~ and do a better job with that.

Thanks for letting me ramble on.....

Gayle, that's wonderful! Hey, maybe if you just keep doing the exercise, you'll learn to like it. And even if you don't, just remember how good it is for your body. It becomes a habit after a while.

That's great Gayle! Sometimes we're much harder on ourselves than we need to be. I'm with you on the exercise - I still hate it too.

~Dee

Good job, Gayle. I'm with you on that general range idea. It’s to stressful counting every single calorie. I'm in Weight Watchers and that's their whole thing. But even so, since I forced myself to write everything down for a whole entire week..... I knew how and how much I should be eating. I'm doing well with the general ballpark idea.

Exercise is a beast of its own. If you could enlist a partner to go to the gym with you - that'd be awesome... and you won’t need that person to commit forever. Once you begin going consistently and begin to see changes in your body - you'll want to go even if your partner doesn’t. Also, what about exercise videos? I saw a commercial for Turbo Jam and I think I want to invest - it doesn’t look like something I'll get bored with. People on this forum have been raving about it too. Even if you're not hitting the gym, you can do little things to boost your activity level. What about dancing - my brother and I want to join an African dance class. Walk places you normally drive... I started by walking a mile instead of taking the bus (most days)... Now I'm hitting the gym 4-5 days/week.

Gayle...
That's awesome!!!! I think sometimes we have totally remodeled our way of thinking and eating...without even noticing it....it's a good thing...congrats! Yeah.....as far as the exercise....I used to be a exercise hater...but the more you do it....the more it grows on ya'...in my case anyways...now i actually look forward to exercising...yes..scary..isn't it? It's hard to get going somedays...but once I actually am into it...I love it and I feel so much better...stronger and more energetic afterwards.... Good luck to you...you are doing awesome!!!!!

hugs,
liv

Great Gayle!

I'm glad the varying cals is working.

I don't like exercise either but I sure love the result lol



Catherine mom to 11
mabear's homepage

I am finding that by having a range of calories ~ it is helping with the grocery bill too. I used to get upset if I could not find the exact brand of a thing I had used before (tried to pick the brand with the lowest calories). It wasn't very cost effective. I might have chosen something that was only a few calories less but cost more. With this range of calories, I don't get so uptight if I can not find the same thing I found before. Before, I would drive all over the place just to find the thing with the lowest calories ~ now I don't have to be so rigid like that.